Boarding The Flight
by endless-winters127
Summary: Max and Ella move to Arizona and go to a boarding school. Even though Max may seeem almost normal, she's not. But what will Max and the Flock find beneath the academy? And how many will have to die to find out?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay sooooo...I'm an experienced writer but this is my first EVER fanfiction.**

**I wanna start off by saying that Maximum Ride is probably about the most AMAZING series I've ever read. EVER. And I would recommend it to ANYONE. But since you clicked on this link for a fanfiction about Maximum Ride, I'm assuming you've read the books and loved them enough to read fanfics about the series.**

**So, I'll stop rambling on like Nudge and let you guys read the first chapter of this fanfic...which I'm still in the process of naming...but by the time I've uploaded this, I'll have found a name...I'll just shut up. Review! Enjoy!**

Chapter 1: The Move (Cliche I know)

Max POV

"MAX! Get UP! It's moving day!" _Wha-? _I thought to myself. And then it dawned on me. Today was the day we were moving. We being my sister Ella, my mom Dr. Martinez, and me, Max. Short for Maximum. Call me anything but Max and I'll knock you into next week.

Now that we have _that _little intro overwith, I'll get on with the story.

"Ella," I say groggily, "Get OUT of my room and leave me in peace!" Keeping my eyes shut, I try to go back to sleep, without success. Ella yanks off my blankets and wacks me in the head with a pillow. And Ella has a pretty strong arm. I curl up into a ball, refusing to get up. That is until Ella flips me onto the floor by flipping the air mattress I was sleeping on out from under me. What can I say? I'm not a morning person.

"I'M AWAKE." I say sternly to Ella.

"Then, get up, get dressed, get downstairs and help pack." she says just as equally stern. I roll over to look up at her and give her a death glare. Being half aslep, it's not as nasty and frightening as I'd like it to be, judging by the fact that Ella didn't even flinch. She turns on her heel and starts to leave.

"Be downstairs in 15 minutes, Max!" She yells over her shoulder. I groan loudly in response.

Since I'm already awake, thanks to Ella, I figure, I may as well get up. I stand up and look all over at my empty room, and I'm reminded that this is happening all over again.

Forget I said that.

I plug in my iPod to it's iHome and blast music. Mom doesn't mind. As long as I dont wake her up at four in the morning, she's all right.

I walk over to my closet and pull on some skinny jeans and a random t-shirt with large slits cut in the back to make room for the wings. Yes wings. I'll explain later. I put on my leather jacket and converse. I walk into my bathroom and run a brush through my tangled, brown-blond hair. I brush my teeth and make my way downstairs. 8 minutes. Thats a new record.

"Morning Max." my mom greets me.

"Coffee." I mumble. I drop my head onto the table and shut my eyes, trying to enjoy the precious moments of sleep that were snatched away by Ella. I'll get my revenge. I was just about to drift off when the pleasant smell of coffee fills my nostrils. I look up and see a steaming mug of coffee in front of my face.

"Thanks. I wouldn't be able to function without coffee." I take a sip of my coffee. _Sooooo good...heavenly. _I think to myself. I stuff myself with whatever happens to be edible and go put the rest of my stuff into the U-Haul we rented. While I'm outside, I look up at the sky and wonder how long its been siince I stretched my wings and flew. Yes, I can fly. Like I said, you'll get the entire story later.

"Mom?" I ask, "Can't I just fly and follow you guys to Arizona?"

"No." She said sternly.

"Bu-"

"I said NO, Maximum." I shut up right then. You know a mother means it when she uses your full name.

"Fine..." I mumble as I go up the stairs.

I pack up my instruments and take one last look at my room before we leave. _Oh well. It's not like it was gonna last anyways. _I don't want to make two trips out to the U-Haul and back so I try to carry all four of my instruments. My violin and viola each have a shoulder strap so I had them strapped to each of my shoulders. My cello and guitar were another story. My cello was in a hard case and was almost twice as big as my guitar. I had both in each of my hands. I thought I could handle it but made the _very_ smart decision to stop at the stairs, knowing it wouldn't turn out pretty.

"Ella!"

"What?" She opens her door, toothbrush in her mouth.

"Take Axel and Red for me down to the U-Haul?" Yes, I named my violin and viola. Axel is my viola, Red is my violin.

"Would it _kill _you to say 'please'?"

"_Please_ take them down to the U-Haul."

"Yeah. Gimme a minute." She said.

I gently put down all my instruments and waited for Ella to come out of her room. Two minutes past. _Okay relax. It takes about that long to brush teeth. _Five minutes. _Getting a _little _impatient Ells. _Fifteen minutes. _Oh my God! How long can it take to brush your freaking teeth! _I stormed into Ellas room and found her _applying mascara. _

"ELLA!" I yell from behind her. I guess I startled her, judging by how she poked herself in the eye with the mascara brush thing.  
>"OW! What?"<p>

"We're going to be _in the car_ for _ten freaking hours_. You do _not _need makeup. Plus you're thirteen. Why do you wear makeup anyways?" She turned around, eye watering already.

"So? You're _fifteen_. Why don't you wear makeup?"

"First: I _really _despise it and don't have a clue how to put it on. Second: just come help me with my stuff already."

"'Kay." She marched out of her room and grabbed Axel and Red.

_Finally. _I thought. I grabbed my cello and guitar paused at Ella looking me up and down.

"What?" I asked, getting a little annoyed.

"_That's _what you're wearing?" She said.

"_Go._" I gesture to the U-Haul with my guitar.

After making sure my instruments (I may as well call them my life because I love them so much) fit snugly so they wouldnt shift, I got in the back seat of our truck along with my mom and Ella. Since she got in the front seat, I layed down, plugged my iPod in and prepared for the long ride ahead of us.

"Off to Arizona we go..." my mom mumbled. I shifted to look out the window and take yet another last look at my house until it was out of view.

I might as well explain the whole wings and flying shebang. So here goes nothing.

I was created as an experiment in a place in California called the School, where they gave me wings. I am 98% human 2% bird. And incase, you're wondering, _yes _I can fly. How? My wings aren't the only thing I have in common with birds. My bones were made to be thin and light but unnaturally strong. I've also got air sacs in addition to lungs and different blood cells. Not to mention that I'm freakishly tall for fifteen and have superhuman strength.

I can't even tell you how terrible the school was. I was kept in a dog cage whenever I wasn't tested on. I was poked and prodded with needles every day. I was forced to run until I passed out. I was whipped, burned, electricuted. I could go on and on.

I know what you're thinking. Why would an evil, sadistic science lab just _set free _a valuable experiment such as myself? They wouldn't. I escaped when I was ten, with the help of Jeb, the only scientist (whitecoat) that felt sorry for me. He taught me how to fly, and how to survive. He was like my father. And the reason I say "was" is because he's dead. After the School found out that he helped me escape, they killed him.

And now you're wondering about Ella and my mom. Before I escaped, Jeb found tons of information about my mom and gave it to me. He told me to find her. That I would be safe with her. It was hard at first. But she and Ella took me in. And I've lived with them ever since.

And thats my story of how I came to be. I'd be lying if I said I was over it. I still get frequent nightmares and flashbacks of the school. I can't control them. Sometimes I get flashbacks at the most random times during the day, along with a killer headache. I'm still trying to figure it all out. Maybe I never will.

And with that, I prop up my pillow behind me, and fall asleep.

* * *

><p>Ten hours later, I practically jumped out of the car before we even stopped moving. I am probably the most claustrophobic bird-kid you'll ever meet. So me plus being trapped in a tin can of a truck is not the best idea. Which is why I wanted to <em>fly <em>here. Thanks a lot mom.

My wings were cramped and I was itching to stretch them out and fly. It was nearly dark and the desert sunset was burning on the horizon. Perfect time to fly.

I quickly brought all my instruments out of the U-Haul and into the empty new house. I took in how big it was and ran up the stairs. I randomly picked a room. One with a _huge _balcony. Perfect for takeoffs and landings.

I ran over to the balcony and opened up the doors, a warm breeze greeting me. _Oh God. A warm breeze greeting me. I need to stop watching television with Ella. _I practically tore off my leather jacket, and spread my fourteen foot wings. I had to say, as far as wings go, mine were pretty awesome. I jumped off the balcony and flew. I thought I heard my mom yelling my name in the distance but I waved it off. I needed to fly.

* * *

><p>I looked at my phone when I landed on the balcony. Ten o'clock. <em>Crap. <em>I thought. Mom would kill me. I was flying for almost two hours while they were stuck here unpacking all our stuff.

I carefully make my way down the stairs awaiting the yelling that would surely come from my mom. But thanks to my super-human bird-kid senses, I smell CHOCOLATE. CHIP. COOKIES. Definately home-made. I rush to the kitchen just a little too eagerly but then froze when my mom turned to face me.

"Where were you?" she starts the interrogation off.

"Fwriwng..." I mumble over the cookies in my mouth.

"What?" _Crap._

"Flying." I say clearly. I practically expected steam to come out of her ears.

"Max. You know why we left Colorado. Why would you risk that again? Someone could've seen you! You could've been killed!" I tuned her out after that. I get this lecture about twice a week. I looked at her. _Why do we have eyebrows? _I think while I tune her out, _It's such a random place to have hair. And why on your face? Why above your eyes? WHy not on your nose? What about beards and mustaches?_

"Got it?" I snap out of it and nod my head.

"Good. Get ready for bed. You're going to your new school tomorrow. Pack some clothes and toiletries (**A/N Did I spell that right?) **you'll be there until Sunday."

Did I forget to mention?

My new school is a boarding school.

**Okay so not much happened in this chapter. But I promise Max and Ella are gonna meet the rest of the flock in the next chapter which I can hopefully get up this weekend. I PROMISE that this story will go somewhere and that the plot will hopefully be not too cliche and really awesome. Review! **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hello readers! Thanks for reading the first chapter! It means a lot to me! Quick request that I forgot to mention in the last chapter. I need songs for this story. Any type of song really. Preferably rock/alternative. But absolutely NO Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Bruno Mars, or ANYTHING or anyone that was on Kidz Bop. (Sorry for all you out there who like those artists. I'm just not into them) With the exception of Adele. I think shes amazing.**

**Anyways, on with the story.**

Chapter 2: First Day

I woke up to the sound of my iPod blaring Anberlin (**A/N Great band =])** My eyes shot open and I started panicing. I was in a strange place. I scrambled in the sheets my legs were tangled in and flopped out of my bed and onto the floor. But then course I realized that I was in my new house in Arizona.

And then being the clumsy bird-kid that I am, stood up to fast and bumped my head on the corner of my wooden nightstand so hard I literally saw stars. So far, my day was off to a _great _start. If you didn't notice the sarcasm, I hope they find a cure for you some day.

I walked over to my new closet and picked up a pair of ripped, worn skinny jeans, striped top, combat boots and my leather jacket. Good to go. Thank GOD the boarding school doesn't require uniforms. I can't even look at a skirt without wanting to vomit.

I quickly packed up my stuff into my suitcase and grabbed my backpack and threw them by the front door. Done and done.

My mom came downstairs in her white lab coat ready to go to her new office. Usually the whole white coat thing would've bothered me. And it still does sometimes. But I know my mom and I was okay with it.

Naturally, Ella was the last one downstairs, sporting a denim skirt and yellow tank top with her pin-straight hair in a ponytail. Everyone, meet my exact opposite, Ella Martinez.

Another fun-fact about being a bird-kid: I eat. A LOT. Take how much a morbidly obese person eats. Triple that. That's how much I eat. My metabolism is incredibly fast so I maintain a light weight for a freakishly tall girl.

I stuff myself with leftover pancakes, muffins, eggs and bacon in ten minutes and I'm ready to go.

The boarding school is a good half hour away (by car. I tried the whole flying thing again. Didn't work out.). When we approach the school, I instantly know that I won't have any claustrophobic issues. The place was freaking _huge_. I got my load of stuff out of the truck, and walked with my mom and Ella to the principals office. Which I might also add, is _freaking huge. _My mom walked up to the secretary that looked like she couldn't care less about her job. I don't blame her. She led us into what I assumed to be the principals office. We all walked in and saw a tall, blond woman in a professional looking suit who must be the principal. Dr. Anne Walker, was written on the plaque on her desk.

"Hello," she greeted with a smile on her red lips, "You must be Maxine Ride and Ella Martinez."

"It's Maximum, but I go by Max" I corrected her. Shouldn't it be on the roster-thing-a-majig?

"Max then. Welcome to Tipisco Academy." I nodded my head and sat down in one of the chairs in front of Dr. Walkers desk.

"We are one of the best boarding schools in the country and expect the absolute best from the both of you. This includes, best behavior, zero-tolerance cheating, and your highest potential in academics and sports. Am I clear?" Wow. Best behavior? This would be fun.

"You and Ella will be sharing the same dormitory in the Williamson Hall room 1408. Now, the buildings are co-ed but just the buildings. The actual dorm rooms themselves are not co-ed. But as I said before-best behavior. All students must be _inside _their dorms by eight thirty. Now here are your schedules, which you will start promptly an d are expected to be caught up by the end of this week. There is a map of the campus in your first-day packets. Any questions?"

"Nope." I say, popping the "P".

"Well, alright then," Said , "You are free to unpack your things in your dorm and look over the map. You'll start your classes after lunch."

"Thank you Dr. Walker." Said my mom. They shook hands and with that, we walked out of her office.

Classes must have let out, because of the many students milling around the campus to get to their next class. I tucked my wings in a little tighter, nervous around all the people. I stared up at the sky, itching to fly around, but knowing that would be a terrible idea. I wonder if I could get out of my dorm at night through the window? Maybe-_Thump! _I suddenly fell to the concrete, hitting my head for the second time today.

"What the hell?" I mumbled.

"Sorry..." I heard a male voice say quietly.

"It's fine. Just-" I didn't even look up. I didn't know what to say.

And then I remembered that my instruments went down as hard as I did. _Crap. _I started to open up case after case to check the tuning, bow hairs, bridges, all the important stuff and picked up all my books that I dropped, when some suddenly appeared in front of my face. I looked up and saw a boy about my age with black hair, nearly black eyes, and dressed in all black clothes. You'd think he was emo, but he just didn't look it. The look suited him.

"Thanks." I said with a half smile, I took the books from him.

"You New?" Said the stranger.

"Yeah, it's my first day. I'm-" I said befor I was cut off by Ellas _impeccable_ timing.

"MAX! HURRY UP! WE GOTTA FIND WILLIAMSON HALL!" She yelled from accross the courtyard.

"I'M COMING! QUIT YELLING!" I yell right back to her.

"Nice to meet you Max, I'm Fang," he said, "I'm in Williamson too."

"Oh. Cool, I-I guess I'll see you around." And with that I left.

Was it just me or was there a large black feather on the ground?

Ella and I hauled our stuff to our new dorm in Williamson Hall, which was also-guess what-_freaking huge._

We found our dorm pretty quickly. Upstairs, second right, third door on the left. I got out the key that gave each of us. As soon as I opened the door, I only had three words.

"OH. MY. GOD." I am in heaven. Ella's jaw hit the floor, and I don't blame her.

We each had a KING sized bed, made up already with a fluffy white comforter, and numerous pillows, identical on each side of the room, each had a wooden desk, nightstand, walk-in closet (which Ella _freaked_ out about), we shared a large bathroom that had a large shower with glass doors, a large tub that sat in the corner with a couple stairsteps leading up to it. There were two sinks that sat on white marble counters. The cabinets under the sinks already had white fluffy towels and washcloths, shampoos, conditioners and soaps.

I saved the best for last. Wide-screen forty-two inch flat screen and two laptops.

Maybe this school wouldnt be so bad after all.

*****PAGE BREAK*****

Lunch passed all too quickly. Before I knew it, Ella had gone to Algebra and I was on my way to Biology, which couldn't be more of a personal hell for me. All the chemical smells and whitecoats are sure to bring my claustrophobia back on. I walk in with my practically empy backpack. The teacher stops mid-lecture and the class all turns to look at me. Probably thinking that a new kid is a whole lot more interesting than whatever they were learning about now.

"Yes?" Said the teacher. She looked pretty young. Maybe in her twenties or so. She was dressed pretty casually and had bright red hair that almost seemed unnatural. Almost.

"Umm..My name's Max. I'm new." I walked over to her and handed her my schedule. She looked over it and nodded to me.

"You're in the right place, Max," the teacher, whose name I saw was Dr. Dwyer (What is it with all the faculty having doctoral degrees in this place?) "We're just taking notes right now. Why don't you go sit over there by Iggy?" She points in th direction of a tall, pale kid with strawberry blond hair. I walk over and I sit down, dropping my backpack loudly on the ground.

I look around the room. Force of habit. Everytime I'm in a lab, I get chills. I look to my left and see that one guy I met earlier. Fang something or other. Weird name. Well then again so is Iggy and Maximum. I notice that he looks a little fidgity. But I can barely tell. That guy is like an emotionless rock.

"I'm Iggy." I hear him whisper to me. I turn to face him, but I notice that his cloudy eyes are focused a good four inches above my head.

"Ummm...I'm down here..."

"Oh. Sorry, I'm blind."

"Oh, no its cool. I get it. Well not get it. I mean I understand. Not the being blind part but-" I stop when he holds a hand up.

"I gotcha." He smiles, his eyes moved so they were almost in contact with mine.

"Good. I'm Max."

And the day goes on.

**Okay so I got some major writers block and had to stop there. Also, I have trouble focusing when I try to watch The Big Bang Theory and write a chapter at the same time.**

**I'll try to update as soon as possible considering I have no life, and its the weekend.**

**REVIEW!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: First off I wanna say that I'm sorry for all the typo's and horrible spelling. My keyboards pretty messed up and I have a cat that likes to lay on it when I'm not at my laptop.**

**Thank you for reviewing/following this story, and for suggesting songs! My last chapter was almost hlaf as long as the first one but, I kinda rushed it because I wanted to gt up the next chapter. And it was late at night, and The Big Bang Theory deprived me of sleep. And so did my dog. She doesn't like thunderstorms and kept breathing right in my face.**

**Enough of my ranting. On with the story!**

Chapter 3: New Neighbors and a Mystery

The rest of the first day was pretty uneventful. Kids stared at me in _every _new class, only making me more self-concious about my wings.

I felt like may day just kept progressing from worse, to absolutely terrible. That is until last period. Orchestra. Apparently, Tipisco Academy had already known how good I was and just went ahead and put me in the top group, Symphony orchestra. But the kids here just called it Chamber. I told the director that I played violin, viola and cello on pretty much the same level and asked him what section I played in. Since I loved all equally (I can't pick a favorite. It's like picking a favorite kid.) we just picked at random. I was in violin one. Since they hadn't had a chair test yet, I just sat fourth chair for now.

I was on my way back to my dorm when I turned a corner to our hallway and bumped into someone. Or should I say Fang. Again.

"Wow. You seem to pop out of now where quite often." I said. He offered a hand to help me up, which I took and pulled myself up.

"Sorry. Again." Said Fang.

"It's fine. I should watch where I'm going." he nodded his head.

"So which dorm are you in? I think you told me earlier that you were in this hall too." I said, trying to change the subject.

"1410."

"Cool. Right across the hall from me. See ya later then." he nodded his head again and went back into his dorm.

He sure didnt like to talk much. I unlocked my door and walked in to see Ella sitting on her bed with two other girls, who were chatting away.

"Max! I made two new friends! This is Nudge and Angel," she said, gesturing to the two girls sitting on her bed. One of them came up to me. She was a little taller than Ella, had tan skin, cand curly brown hair that went a little past her shoulders.

"HI! I'm Nudge! Well my real names Monique but I go by Nudge. I live next door with Angel! Do you like it here! Your dorm is amazing! What's Max short for? Are you in orchestra? Do you like music? Because I LOVE music! I can't imagine anyone who would hate music! I mean how can you hate music? It would be horrible to be deaf because then you wouldn't be able to listen to music, or talk to people or listen to them. It would suck to be blind to, like Iggy, even though he deals pretty well with it. He still remembers what it was like to see. He wasn't born that way though. Iggy's my brother. Well adopted brother. Because we look NOTHING alike! Kind of like you and Ella! Except for the eyes kind of. Are you half siblings?" Wow she could talk.

"Great Nudge. You rendered her speachless. I'm Angel." she said, who looked, well, angelic to be honest. With a halo of golden curls and the _bluest _eyes I have ever seen.

"Max. Yeah we just got here this morning. And yeah I'm in orchestra and I obviously love music."

"Dear God Nudge! I can hear you from accross the hall! You could talk someones ear off!" said Iggy. Don't ask me how he got into our dorm because I have no idea.

"Lock picking kit." Angel said to me. I don't know how she knew what I was thinking. But it was spooky.

"Ummmm...Okay then...I've gotta get started on this make-up work so if you'll excuse me." I said, making my way to my laptop on the desk.

*****PAGE BREAK. I LIKE TO CALL IT WRITERS BLOCK alskdjfowivknknx kngiiorfj;akldvlkjrg;oaeif;kcn. That was my writers block frustration. On with the chapter*****

"Max. Max. MAX!" said a voice.

"AGH!" I subconciously threw a punch in the direction of the voice. Hard. I opened my eyes and saw it was Fang. Whoops.

"God Max! Do you _always _punch in your sleep?" he said

"Wha-what happened?" I felt that my face had keyboard marks. Had I fallen asleep doing homework? Well lets see. Sleep or researching biopharmeceuticals? Sleep wins every time.

"Ella, Nudge, Angel, Iggy and Gazzy all went to go get dinner. Ella told me to wake you up if you didnt wake up after they left. I kinda regret agreeing to that." he said while holding his jaw. I gotta say. I'm shocked. Thats probably the longest thing I've ever heard him say.

"Sorry. Force of habit."

"Whaddya mean?"

"Ummmm...wanna go meet the guys at the mess hall?"

"Uhhh...sure I guess."

I'm not the most pleasent person sometimes. Plus I just woke up and I've got a killer headache. Yeah, you wouldn't wanna bug me.

Fang and I walked to the mess hall in silence. But not an awkward silence. It was comfortable with him. It was weird. I'd felt like I'd known Fang for years even though I just met him this morning.

We were in the middle of the courtyard, sorrounded by the buildings and various gardens of desert plant life. It was really pretty actually. The sun was starting to set, and there was a light wind blowing in the East. This is perfect. I just wish I could whip out my wings and fly off into the sunset, not caring who sees.

"You wish you could what?" said Fang a little suspiciously.

Did I say that last part out loud? What was that like, my FIFTH "whoops moment" today?

"Ummm..." But I was cut off right then. Remember that killer headache I mentioned before?

It felt like it had exploded into a million pieces inside my head. Like a star just blew up into a supernova. Only ten times bigger and more painful.

I couldn't see. Couldn't think, couldn't breath. The only thing I knew right now was that I felt like my brain just splattered onto the inside of my skull. There was a loud screeching noise and I covered my ears and for a brief second, I realized that the screeching noise was me, screaming. I dropped to the ground like a sack of rocks and curled up into a ball the tightest I could be. All I wanted to do right now was die so the pain could stop.

Random images flashed before my eyes, none of them long enough for me to actually process what I actually saw. I started screaming again. I didn't care. I couldn't hold it in.

"Max?" Fangs voice felt like it was a million miles away. I think I heard the others run towards me. I knew I needed help, and that they would take me to a hospital. Maybe Ella could stop them?

It didnt matter anyways because by the time I felt Iggys gentle fingers brush my forehead, I was already blacked out.

But before I did, I saw one image pause in my head long enough for me to see.

Jeb.

**THIS HAS PROBABLY BEEN MY SHORTEST CHAPTER YET. I'm REALLY sorry! I know I left you guys on a cliffhanger (not a very good one by the way) but I once again got writers block. Not really. Thats just my excuse for being lazy.**

**One more thing. I still need some song ideas. Same criteria!**

**REVIEW!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thank you my lovely reviewers! Makes me smile every time I see an email from fanfiction telling me another person likes this story =D**

**So in the last chapter, I left you guys on a cliffhanger. Aren't I nice? FOr this chapter, I'm really hoping that it will be a LOT longer. After I uploaded the last chapter, I read over it and thought to myself "wow. that was short". It was only about 1300 words. For this one, I'm hoping for maybe 4000 words.**

**One question. Would you guys rather have shorter chapters with faster updates or longer chapters with longer waits? Decisions, decisions...**

**Heres the chapter.**

Chapter 3: I dont have a much thinking.

"Are you sure?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"It's just...I dunno. It seems impossible."

"Wait...do you think she's coming to?"

"Maybe...Max? MAX!"

My eyes shot open in alarm and I kicked in the direction of the voices. I had nailed Iggy right in the...lets just say the place guys DO NOT want to be kicked.

"Wha-what happened?" I took the cold washcloth someone had placed on my forehead and looked up at six very concerned faces including one I've never met. Gazzy I'm guessing? I looked around and saw that I was in my bed at Tipisco academy, still in my clothes.

"Ummmm...we don't know." said Angel.

"How long have I been out?"

"Few hours." said Fang.

I looked over to see Iggy hunched over on the ground, moaning. Whoops.

"Sorry Igs." I say sympathetically. He was in too much pain to even speak. I must have really nailed him.

"What happened?" Fang said sitting on my bed next to me.

"What did you guys see?"

"Well, Iggy heard you screaming and we ran outside and saw you on the ground, rolled up in a ball, covering your ears," Ella said, "But, wait...wasn't Fang with you when it happened? What did _you_ see, Fang?" We all shifted our gaze to look at him.

"Well, Max, you said something and before you could explain, you got this look on your face. Like...you'd never been in that much pain in your life. Then you fell on the ground and that when the rest of the guys came and found you. We all wanted to take you to a hospital. It looked like you had a stroke or something. But Ella told us not to. That you couldn't go to a hospital because you hate doctors." He muttered the last part suspiciously. That's my girl. Always looking out for me.

Great. Now I _had _to explain.

"Well...you see what happened was...I had had a headache all freaking day and suddenly it just...it just felt like it _exploded _in my head. It felt like my brain was being splattered on the inside of my skull...I saw all these pictures but they were moving really fast and I couldn't tell what they were." They all looked at me like they had never heard anything like that before. Well no freaking duh.

"How ya feelin' now?" asked Iggy, who now seemed to be recovered from his...injury.

"Like crap. I think I'm sick."

"OMIGOD Max! You scared the living daylights out of us! I mean, I havent known you for that long but I already feel like I've known you for _years_. What if you had died? Is there really a light at the end of the tunnel? What if the doctors didnt know what to do? Are you really sick? Do you have a fever? Are you gonna throw up? Because if you are, these are brand new shoes and I dont wanna mmhmph-" Iggy slapped a hand over Nudge's mouth. All I had to say was THANK GOD.

"Igster," said Fang, "Check her temperature." And why you may ask did Fang ask the blind kid to take my temperature? Cause Iggy's got mad .supersenses.

I guided Iggy's boney hand to my forehead.

"103. Jeezus Max. You're burning up." he gently put the cold cloth back on my forehead.

"Oh, God." I could feel it coming. I quickly got up out of bed and shoved everyone out of my way and made a beeline for the bathroom. I kneeled in front of the toilet and practically vomited my intestines out.

I heard almost silent footsteps and out of the corner of my eye, saw Fang come and sit next to me. One hand holding my hair away from my face and the other gently rubbing my back soothingly. Once I finally stopped, I leaned my head on the toilet seat and shut my eyes, trying not to look at my lunch.

I felt so sick. I've never been this sick before in my life. I literally couldn't move without my headache spiking up again, or throwing up.

"You done?" Asked Fang. I nodded my head against the toilet seat.

"All right," Fang said as he turned me to face him. He closed the lid and got a warm washcloth and cleaned up my face. He started to leave the bathroom and then turned to me.

"You coming?"

"Can't I just sleep here?"

"No."

"Bu-"

"NO. Come on."

"I-I can't"

"Why?"

"Ummm...I can't get up."

"Fine. Come on," And before I could protest, Fang threw me over his shoulder and carried to my bed where he set me down and tucked me in. And without a word, he left to his dorm.

That's the last thing I remember before I passed out.

*****PAGE BREAK*****

I got over being sick pretty quickly. Now, it was Friday and I was practicing a bit before school on my cello. The cool thing about this school is that they have sound proof practice rooms. Unlike most schools, they are ACTUALLY soundproof. Only bad part is that the door is completely glass. So all the creepers in the school could peek in and watch me play. Which makes me extremely uncomfortable.

Anyways, I went from practicing Bach's cello suite one prelude when I switched and played one on the only good songs I knew that used a solo cello, and nothing more. I wasn't one for singing so I just played the cello part. I didnt like the lyrics too much but the cello part was absolutely amazing so I learned it by ear. **(A/N: This song is called Princess of the Plains by Joshua McClain) **I was about halfway through the song when I turned to the glass door and almost screamed. Fang was standing there, watching me with a hint of amazement in his dark eyes. God, listen to me. What was wrong with me?

I opened the door which locked from the outside and let him slide past my cello and myself, and sit in one of the spare chairs in the practice room.

"You scared the living crap outta me, Fang."

"I have that effect on people. So, whatcha playing?"

"Music."

"Be a little more specific?"

"Said Mr. tall dark and silent."

"Max." God. Fang could be scary when he wanted to.

"Bach cello suite and a song called Princess of the Plains. Happy?"

"Can I hear one of them?"

"No."

"Please?"

"NO."

"Then you wouldn't mind if I told Nudge that you wanted a makeover?"

"YOU WOULDN'T."

"Try me."

He was good. I don't give in easily. But a makeover by Nudge? No way in hell. Would it be so bad to let him hear me play? I guess not. _Oh crap. _I saw Fang start to pull his (black. Big surprise) phone out of his pocket.

"OKAY! Fine! Whaddya wanna hear?" he paused and thought for a while.

"Today please?" I urged.

"Princess of the Plains. The one you said you were playing."

"I'm not singing it."

"Yes you are."

"Bu-" I paused when he threatened to pull out his phone and call Nudge.

"Okay." I sighed in defeat. I re-posistioned my cello between my legs (minds out of the gutter people. That's how you play a cello) and sat up a little straighter. And I let my bow glide against the strings. After the intro, I began to sing.

_Oh, little darling, princess of the plains._

I plucked the strings rythymnically and shut my eyes, feeling the music. I switched back with my bow and started to sing again.

_I went down to the water, to wash my hands and feet._

_I went down to the water, to wash myself clean._

I played a short solo that I loved so much and sang again.

_I looked into the water and I saw a hazy sea,_

_Of horses racing wildly, racing fast across the plains_

_(solo)_

_There was a little girl from the plains were she was born._

_She rose up and sang, and all the horses bowed before._

I mentally congratulated myself as I hit the high note on both my cello and in my singing.

_I went down to the water, to wash my hands and feet._

_I went down to the water, to wash myself clean._

I played a short solo that I loved so much and sang again.

_I looked into the water and I saw a hazy sea,_

_Of horses racing wildly, racing fast across the plains_

_Oh, little darling, princess of the plains._

_She became the queen of horses,_

_And she grabbed her leather reins._

_I went down to the water, to wash my hands and feet._

_Oh, I went down to the water, to wash myself clean._

_Oh, I went down to the water, to wash my hands and feet._

_Oh,I went down to the water, to wash myself clean._

I finished out the song, and opened my eyes. I had almost forgotten that Fang was sitting right next to me. I turned to him and gave him a look that said _Well? What do you think?_

He returned my look with a quick grin. Wow. That was weird. I didnt think Fang was capable of smiling.

"That was-really cool." he said.

"Thanks..." I felt a blush creeping up on my face so I took great interest in my shoes so Fang wouldn't see.

And I saw the weirdest thing on the ground. A jet black feather. It couldnt be one of mine. I didn't have any black feathers. Well I had a few but none of them were solid black like this one. I picked it up and showed it to Fang. Could he-? No. Thats-thats impossible.

"Fang?" I showed him the feather, "How did this get in here?" his face turned pale when he saw it.

"Uhh..." but he was cut off by a loud rapping at the door. I looked throught the door and saw a girl with bright red hair dressed in preppy clothes. When Fang saw her he groaned and trudged to the door to open it. I didn't blame him.

"Fangy!" _Fangy? _Oh I am _so _using that against him later.

"Don't call me that. And what do you want Lissa?" Lissa huh? That name fitted her. It was just so..._Lissa_-ish.

"You were _supposed _to meet me behind the bleachers remember? And what are you doing here with the new girl and her guitar?" _Guitar? This just keeps getting better and better. _

"Uh, excuse me? Lissa? If you had a brain in that hollow head of yours, you'd know that this is a cello. Not a guitar."

"Whatever. It's not like you can play either one anyways." Oh it's on.

"Listen, bi-" I started.

"Max," Fang cut me off. "Lissa. Just leave it and go." Fang said. There was that scary Fang again. Lissa flinched at his death glare.

"Bu-"

"GO."

"Fine." She gave me a look and I wiggled my fingers at her.

"See ya later bestie!" I said immitating her nasal, annoying voice. She stuck her nose in the air and walked away, stilettos clicking against the floor. Fang shut the door and returned to his seat next to me.

"Fangy! You didn't tell me you had a girlfriend!" If looks could kill.

"She's not my girlfriend. She has some crazy delusion that she is."

"Delusional, mental, insane, call it what you want."

"She's been all over me since I started coming to this school. Sorry about the whole um...cello-guitar thing she said. She can sometimes be a-"

"Rhymes with witch?"

"Yeah that."

Silence. After a few seconds I couldn't hold it in anymore. I burst out laughing. God only knows why. Fang was chuckling silently.

And then it happened again.

**Yay for semi-long-ish chapters! It would have taken me longer but I came home sick today and had a lot of free time on my hands. I'm not ashamed to say that American Idol set me back about an hour. It gets addictive when you're not reading/writing.**

**Hopefully I'll be able to get up a new chapter by this weekend.**

**REVIEW!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I'm really mad at my laptop. I had like 700 words and then my laptop shut down. And usually it saves unsaved work. But not this time. So now I have to rewrite the chapter and my authors notes. So I will say that I have no social life and I write when I babysit and it really opens up the mind. **

**And I had a question. Would you guys like to have some Fang POV's? I might try it out a little in this chapter. Because thats what I did in my last chapter THAT WAS VERY CONVENIENTLY DELETED.**

**Heres the chapter.**

Chapter 5: Images

Of course it happened again. Because this is my life. I can't enjoy it for five minutes without something bad happening. One minute I was laughing with Fang and the next, everything seemed to be moving in slow motion and my head shattered into a million pieces.

My heart skipped a beat and I gasped at the sudden pain. I dropped my cello and could only hope that Fang would catch it.

But that was the least of my worries. Things started to flash through my head again.

**FANG POV**

Why were we laughing? I have no clue. I can't remember the last time I laughed. After we escaped the School, I didn't laugh very often. But then again, I didn't laugh much at the School either. It was good to get one out.

But then, something happened. Max gasped and she literally turned pale. Was her head going to explode again? I guess so. Max dropped her cello, shut her eyes tightly, and clenched her teeth together so tightly that I thought she might chip a tooth. Her hands clamped on either side of her head, as if she was trying to keep her head from exploding, and she fell to the ground and curled up in a ball. I could see her struggling not to scream but tears somehow managed to find their way out of her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.

I knew how much Max loved her instruments and that she woud never treat them that way. I also knew that she would be crushed if anything happened to them. Like her cello falling onto hard tile and being irreparable. So I caught it and set it down gently.

"MAX!" I yelled. I didn't have to worry about people hearing us, because of the soundproof walls. But I did have to worry about people seeing us. People would begin to wonder if they saw Max on the floor screaming. They would call 911. Should I call 911? No. Max would hate that. So I shut the privacy curtain that was hidden in the corner. Max must no have noticed it, otherwise she would have closed it and I never would have seen her. Okay. One minor problem solved. Now what could I do?

I pulled Max's curled up, lightweight figure into my lap, and rubbed her back. Who knows. Maybe she might calm down? What was I supposed to do? Max was pretty much my best friend. Was I going to just watch her while her brain practically exploded? No.

"Shhh...Max, shhhh." I whispered comfortingly to her. She let out a scream and thrashed in my arms.

"It's okay...shhh..." I wonder what was going through her head right now. What she was seeing. She said once that when she got these brain attacks, a bunch of images flashed through her head. What were they?

I noticed a sheen of sweat and some strands of hair were plastered to her head. God, I hope this would end soon. I can't stand to see Max in this much pain.

Wait...what? Pretend never said that.

It took a while but she finally stopped shaking. I felt her hold on her ears lesson until her hands eventually dropped from her ears. Her eyes were still squeezed shut though.

After what felt like an eternity, she finally opened her chocolate brown eyes.

"Max?" I reached out to wipe a stray tear but she snatched my wrist. After she realized it was me, she let go and looked around to see where she was. Once she realized that she was in my lap, she scrambled to her feet and stood in a corner on the far side of the room.

"I-I'm sorry. I-" She said trying to find an explanation. Which was pretty pointless considering there really wasn't one.

"Max. Don't say you're sorry. You scared the living shit out of me." What? She did. God only knows if she could die from what just happened.

I walked over and pulled away the privacy curtain. A look of surprise was on Max's face. She probably felt stupid that she never noticed it before. Uncomfortable silence.

"Fang?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

She paused for a second.

"Why was I in your lap?"

Crap.

"Well what was I supposed to do? Just sit there and watch you have a brain attack?"

"Well...no bu-"

"Max. You're my best friend. I wouldn't leave you there in pain."

And before she could say anything at all, I walked over and pulled her into my arms. It took her a second but she hugged me right back. Wait...I swear I could almost feel on her back...wings? No. Thats impossible. There were no other bird kids at the School other than me, Iggy, Angel, Gazzy and Nudge.

After a few lingering seconds (Don't blame me. I'm a teenage boy and Max smelled really nice) we pulled away from our hug. And then I realized how close together our faces were. I started to slowly inch to close the space between mine and Max's mouths, Des she want to kiss me back?

Our noses slightly brushed and our lips were near contact when-

_KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!_

What the hell?

Max flinched back, as if she were snapping out of a trance and we both looked at the door.

Nudge.

Dear God.

What was I thinking? Max was my best friend! Why would I kiss her? Why would she kiss me?

Big, big, BIG mistake. I hesitantly opened the door, preparing for Nudge Channel at full volume.

"YOU GUYS! We're gonna be late! Class starts in five minutes! And you know me, I have a perfect attendance record! I cannot be late! You know, sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be late...or break a rule. Would you get in trouble? I bet you guys would know. You just look like trouble makers. Have you guys gotten detention? Does it suck? Is it boring? OMG! You guys could be like, partners in crime or something! DOUBLE OMG! Were you guys gonna kiss? You guys were like _super _close when I knocked on the door. OMIGOD! We need to hurry or-mphmmph" before I slapped a hand over her mouth. I looked over at Max, packing up her cello at lightning speed and running to put it away in her locker. Max and I both knew that if she had one more tardy, we would get Saturday detention.

When Max go back, we all ran across campus and just made it to English.

**MAX POV**

What the hell was that? One minute Fang calls me his best friend and then he almost kisses me? I will never understand.

I swear to God, my brain attacks are getting worse. This one hurt twice as bad (if possible) and the images were starting to slow down more so I could see them for about a second. Some were of the school, others were of the sky, a few were complicated mathematical equations and double helixes of DNA. And then one that stuck in my head. It was me, in my cage at the school when I was about eight. But what really caught my eye was that there were about five different cages in the room. What really bugged me was that I couldn't see the faces of the occupants of the cages. Were there others like me?

I have too much on my mind. I've got to get a flight in tonight.

Did I mention that we have a window in our dorm? No? Well it's huge.

*****PAGE BREAK*****

It was dinner time and we were all eating dinner in the mess hall. It was actually pretty nice. The food was decent. Tonight it was spaghetti, garlic bread and carrots on the side. Of course, I got a triple serving.

The dining area was nice. You had a choice of either eating outside on a balcony, or inside on mahogany tables and matching chairs, which were pretty comfortable for wood.

Today we all decided to eat on the edge of the balcony with our legs dangling over. Whaaaat? The EDGE OF THE BALCONY? Yeah. 'Cause were one big group of badasses.

Yeah. Wanna hear the really cheesy part? The sun was setting and I was sitting next to he who shall not be named. NOT VOLDEMORT. Fang. I was still trying to figure out what happened earlier. Boys...

I had eaten like lightning and Iggy, Fang, Gazzy, Nudge, and Angel were all staring at me with open mouths.

Thankfully not full of food.

"Get used to it." Ella said.

Anyways, I had my guitar by my side as I just came from practicing it. I love that guitar. It's not your normal acoustic guitar for one. It sounds kind of folky. In a way, it was kindof like my string instruments. For one, it had two f-holes on the sides of the strings. (**A/N GROW UP PEOPLE!) **And several holes near the bottom. Overall, it was pretty freaking amazing.

"Max?" said Angel.

"What is it?"

"Will you play us something on your guitar?"

"Uhhhh..."

"Please?" Bambi eyes. Don't look, don't look, don't look...damn.

"Okay Ange."

"Don't worry Angel. Max won't dissapoint." said Fang. I shot him a look and he shot me one straight back. Mine was still a billion times better.

"Fang. You're singing with me."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Nudge? How do you think Fang would look in pink?"

"OMG! Where do I begin! He would look INCREDIBLE! The color is just so-" Fang glared at me.

"You're good Max." He said to me in a deathly tone.

"Why thank you Fangy."

"What are we singing?"

"Barton Hollow by The Civil Wars. You know it?"

"By heart." Wow. I kinda pictured Fang as more of a screamo-rap-heavy metal kinda guy. Oh well. If a song was good, it was good. And this one was good.

We started to sing. Loud.

(**A/N: THIS SONG IS AMAZING. SERIOUSLY. GO LOOK IT UP RIGHT NOW. DO IT.)**

**(**_Italic=Max, _**Bold=Fang, **_**Bold Italic= both.)**_

_**Oooooo**_

_**Oooooo**_

**I'm a dead man walkin' here**

**that's the least of all my fears**

_**Ooooo**_

_**underneath the water**_

**...**

**It's not Alabama clay**

**gives my tremblin' hands away**

_**Oooooo**_

_**please forgive me Father**_

**...**

_**Ain't goin' back to Barton Hollow**_

_**devil gonna follow me e'er I go**_

_**Won't do me no good washin' in the river**_

_**can't no preacher man save my soul**_

_**Whoa-oa-oa**_

**Did that full moon force my hand**

_**or that unmarked hundred grand?**_

_**Whoa-oa-oa-oa**_

_**Underneath the water**_

_**Ooooo**_

_**Please, forgive me Father**_

**...**

_Miles and miles in my bare feet_

_Still can't lay me down to sleep_

_If I die before I wake_

_I know the Lord my soul won't__** take**_

_**Ooooo Whoa-ooooo**_

**I'm a dead man walkin'**

**I'm a dead man walkin'**

_Keep __**walkin', runnin', runnin' for miles**_

_**Keep walkin', runnin', runnin' for miles**_

_**Keep walkin', runnin', runnin' for miles**_

_**Whoa-oh-oh**_

_**Ain't goin' back to Barton Hollow**_

_**Devil gonna follow me e'er I go**_

_**Won't do me no good washin' in the river**_

_**Can't no preacher man save my soul.**_

It took me a while to realize that a crowd of people were gathered around our little group and had been listening to Fang and I singing and my strumming my guitar powerfully.

Wow. They were..._clapping?_ I thought I was alright but I didn't know I was...I dunno...applause-standing-ovation worthy?

"Hey." One guy with blondish hair and teal eyes said to me. Definately an Abercrombie model by the looks of it.

"I'm Dylan. You're Max right?"

Good God. And the claustrophobia kicks in.

"Yup. Bye!"

I grab my case and run out to my dorm.

It usually takes a good five minute walk to get to the dorm but I run back and reach my door in about a minute and a half.

I tear off my windbreaker and open the window and jump.

I'll tell you. There is nothing more exhilerating than free falling. Until you hit the ground. So I snapped out my tan and white and speckled wings and flew off into the sunset. Cheesy right?

It was absolutely un-Earthly. Heavenly. The desert smells filled my nose and the desert sunset of oranges, pinks and reds looked absolutely breathtaking. It had been forever since I'd flown.

All too soon, my peace was interrupted.

Someone was following me. And before I could comprehend that, the winged figure crashed into me and I fell to the ground my wings tangled with the weird flying thing. A vulture maybe? No. It's wings were solid black. When I reached the ground I recognized him instantly.

Fang.

**CLIFFHANGER! HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!**

**No. I just promised some people I would get the chapter up today. You know who you are. **

**SONGS! I need your songs! **

**But really. Go look up the one I put in this chapter. It is three minutes and thirtyone seconds of amazingness.**

**Three-day weekend coming up. That means a new chapter!**

**REVIEW!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Nothin much to say. I've been busy. I can't even type that with a straight face it's such a lie. I've just been lazy**

**So...awkward pause. Anyone ever notice that Coke tastes a little like chocolate? I think it does.**

**What are you guy's favorite hair accessories? Soda? Brand of chips?**

**Just making polite conversation here people. Even though I know that half of you just skipped over the authors note and right to the story. So it must be pretty awesome if you can't waste a minute or two waiting.**

**20 REVIEWS! I'M SOOOOO SUPER HAPPY! Get it up to thirty!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. If I did, I would be living in New York not having to write FanFictions.**

**Heres the chapter =D**

Chapter 6: Dreaming

"Fang?" He just stared at me. Or my wings rather in disbelief.

Wow. He couldn't have wings. He just couldn't. I've gotta be dreaming. Only one wway to find out. I reached out to touch the solid black wings with dark blue glints, when Fang interrupted me and kissed me right on the mouth. He pulled away quickly. I was in utter shock. My best friend has wings. And kissed me. And then he started to morph.

His face turned hairy and his black eyes turned yellow. His nose elongated and he grew claws on his fingernails. I recognized what he was instantly. An Eraser. The horrible half-man half-wolf creatures that were the guards and the brutal killers at the School. My first instinct was to fly away but before I could, Fang, or so I thought he was, stabbed me. Right in the heart.

"AAAAGGGHHH!" I screamed. There was a bright light in front of my face. Was this the light at the end of the tunnel?

No. It was only the lights of my dorm. It was only a dream.

I never went flying. Fang never had wings. He never kissed me. He never turned into an Eraser and he never killed me. He never would.

I saw my guitar in the corner. Hmm. I really must've sang Barton Hollow with Fang at dinner.

I looked over at the clock and saw that it was about nine o'clock. I was asleep for about an hour.

What happened? I must've come and crashed as soon as I came back here.

Where was Ella? That girl ditched me! Ladies and gentlemen, sister of the year.

At least she left a note.

_Max,_

_Went to Nudge and Angels dorm._

_Ells_

Well okay.

Nudge and Angel lived the dorm next to ours. Even though they were fifteen feet, a cement wall, and a door away, I could still hear Nudge's motor mouth running and running like the Energizer Bunny.

Now, this might come as a surprise to you but, when you live at an evil science lab like the School for the first ten years of your life, you pick up a few things. And when you plot a genius escape, you have to know how to pick locks. These locks at Tipisco Academy were childs play. I was in their dorm in twenty seconds.

"Yo," I yelled into the room. Looks like everyone was there but me. Fang, Iggy, Gazzy, Nudge, Angel and Ella.

"Hey ditcher." said Iggy.

"Max! You and Fang sounded sooooo super good together!" said Angel.

"Thanks." I blushed a bit. Hopefully no one could see. The room was awfully dark.

"Whatcha doin'?"

"Nudge figured out how to hack the tv so now we're getting unlimited channels. We're gonna have an all night marathon of The Big Bang Theory. Wanna sit in?"

"No. I hate that show. Bazinga." I took a seat on a bean bag on the floor next to-guess who- Fang. Who, as usual, said nothing.

*****PAGE BREAK. ALSO KNOWN AS WRITERS BLOCK*****

_Run. Don't stop. You can't stop. You're the Maximum. Run. Ignore your lungs screaming for a break. Ignore your thirst, Max. Run. And don't stop._

_Run. Jump, leap, sprint, avoid the root sticking out of the ground. And that ditch. DITCH! _Once I saw the ditch, I knew I was screwed. I tumbled and face-planted, immedietly expecting pain, but not feeling a thing. What the hell was that about? And then I felt claw marks scratch my face. Hearing the horrible tearing of my flesh sound and feeling blood flow down my face. And then the stench hit me. It was the unmistakeable Eraser smell.

_Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God. Please, please, please don't be Fang again._ I gathered the courage to look at the face of the Eraser. Hoping that it wouldn't be anyone that I recognized.

It was my unlucky day.

Ari. My half-brother. Did I mention that I had one? No? Deal with it. I escaped when he was only three. Now he was eight. What had they done to him? I don't even want to know.

"Ari?" I breathed.

"Hello Maxie."

I stuttered. I couldn't think. Didn't know what to say. They had turned my little brother into an Eraser.

"Max. MAX!" He shouted at me. He morphed into Fang and I was reminded that he turned into an Eraser earlier. That son of a bitch. I nailed him in the jaw. And unlike the rest of my dream before, I could actually feel my fist collide with his face.

And then I woke up. The first thing I saw was Fang, clutching his jaw. Looks like I punch just as well in my sleep as I do when I'm awake. He would have a bruise for a while.

I looked around and saw The Big Bang Theory still airing on the television and everyone in the room sound asleep.

"You sure can throw a punch." He said to me.

"What time is it?" I asked tiredly.

"'Bout two am."

"Then why'd you wake me up?" I whisper-screamed at him.

"You were shaking and muttering things in your sleep and I thought you got another brain attack again."

"Oh. I better go to my own dorm while I'm up then."

"Yeah. Me too."

"Night."

"See ya."

Forget it. I'm not going to sleep after that nightmare. I never do after I wake up from them.

I opened my huge window and jumped. For about ten feet I was just free-falling. Then my wings snapped out and caught the wind like a sail. I took a deep breath of the cool desert air and flapped my fourteen foot wings and flew up above the clouds. And for a while, I just flew upside down and looked at the stars, which were remarkably clear up above the clouds.

Heaven. This must be what it feels like. The only thing that could make me happier right now was if I had a three-pound bag of gummy bears. Or six. Then the whole scene would be complete.

Hmm. A full moon. It was the only thing that was lighting my path right now.

And then I saw the thing come at me like a torpedo.

**FANG POV**

Something was wrong with Max. There was something she wasn't telling me. Or-er- us for that matter.

Maybe I should check on her? She looked like she was having a nightmare. Would she want to talk about it? Didn't girls usually like to talk things out? Nah. Max wouldn't talk about her dreams to me. She could be really closed off sometimes.

God, am I a hypocrite.

I'll just check on her. I came face to face with her door. Fist poised and read to knock on her door. Should I? No. She might be asleep. Max would make sure my death was slow and painful if I woke her up twice. But then again, she only went to her dorm a minute ago. Maybe she wasn't asleep? But, Max is a heavy sleeper. She could fall asleep really fast.

I'll just do it.

No, don't.

Do it you idiot.

She'll murder you.

No she won't.

I was having an argument with myself. I'm going insane. It's finally happening. After living at the School and being experimented on for a decade of my life, I'm finally going insane.

I'll just do it. Final decision. I'll check on Max. Make sure she's okay. She wouldn't be mad at me for just caring. Or would she?

I didn't hear a counter-arguement from the other side of my concious. So I knocked.

No answer.

I knocked again.

Was she asleep?

Knocked again.

Okay. No matter how heavy a sleeper Max is, no one can sleep through me knocking on the door.

I quickly picked the lock, and opened her door.

No Max.

I had a horrible thought. Maybe They got her.

I saw her window wide open, the curtains blowing in the wind that was coming in the room.

She was gone. But where? Did They take her? Could They know that she was my friend and kidnapped her to experiment on her? Maybe lure me back?

Could Max have wings? I found myself wondering that a lot lately.

I've gotta find her.

I jumped out her window and snapped out my solid black wings and flew North until I was above the clouds. I immedietly saw the sight I've been wondering about since I met Max.

There she was. Just flying. Her wings were just as big as mine. Tan and white and speckled. They were pretty awesome. Her brown-blond hair was streaming out behind her as she flew gracefully.

Forget I said that.

I flew towards her. I figured, if I knew about her, it would only be fair if she knew about me.

She must've seen me, because she immedietly sped up. She was going lightning fast. Nearly three hundred miles an hour.

I sped up, trying desperately to catch up to her.

When I did, I flew right up next to her, until she looked me in the eye.

"'Ssup?" I asked.

She stopped and stared at me. We were both hovering in the air. Eyeing eachother with disbelief.

"I-um...Fang. You have wings."

"Yeah. And apparently so do you

"Do-do the others...?" She was at a loss for words.

"Yeah. What about Ella?"

"No," She said immedietly, "She doesn't."

"Oh."

Usually when there are silences between us, they're comfortable. Not awkward. Like this one.

And then her eyes rolled to the back of her head. Her wings folded in, and she dropped like a hailstone. Fast.

Well, crap.

I flew down after her and grabbed her under her arms and caried her down to the ground.

Once we were on the ground, she screamed and yelled.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" She yelled.

After a couple minutes, she opened her eyes. They widened as she looked around.

"Fang." she whispered. A look of intensity in her eyes.

"What." I said just as she did.

"Don't. Move." So of course I had to look. My first thought was, how did they find us?

**MAX POV**

Fang had wings. And it wasn't a dream. At least I hope so. I don't think I could bear another nightmare about Fang turning into an Eraser.

We hovered in the air. Awkward, uncomfortable silence.

I felt it coming. I should've seen this coming.

My brain exploded. You know how people say third times the charm?

They lied.

This was my third brain attack and it was three times as worse.

I felt myself fall. Then Fangs arms catch me. Then I felt the ground.

The images from my dreams flashed before my eyes.

_Max..Maximum...Max. Listen to me. Max, Max, Max...MAX!_

What the hell was that? A voice? What was it talking about?

I just wanted it to stop.

"SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!" I yelled.

When it was over, I opened my eyes and looked around.

Oh, my God.

"Fang." I whispered.

"What."

"Don't. Move."

Of course, he looked.

I might as well tell you why we couldn't move.

Erasers. Dozens of them. Sorrounding us in the desert.

**A/N: Yet another cliffhanger. I love doing that =D. It motivates me to write the next chapter. Because, even I can't wait to know whats gonna happen next.**

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	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: So, this chapter would have been up sooner but, I got really REALLY sick.**

**I got tested for flu, cinus infection, mono and strep. Those tests were not fun. Flu was okay. All I had to do was blow my nose. Cinus, I got an X-Ray, Strep...Oh, my God. Not pleasant. They stuck a giant foot-long cotton swab down my throat. I nearly coughed my lungs out. Mono was probably my least favorite, considering it was the first time I had gotten my blood drawn. I hate needles. So. Freaking. Much.**

**Enough of me ranting about unpleasant medical tests. **

**Heres the chapter. And the disclaimer. A friend of mine reminded me about that...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. If I did, I would have an awesome laptop, a kajillion dollars, and a fancy apartment in New York.**

Chapter 7: Night Flights

Half of me told me to bolt. Take off and never look back. The other half told me to stay. Fight. Kick some stinking, furry Eraser ass.

Naturally, I listened to my second half.

"How did they find me?" I whispered. Guess who said that simultaneousley with me? Yeah. Fang.

"What do you mean how did they find _you_?" I asked, "I think they're here for me, Fang." Okay, I'll admit, I can sound pretty full of myself sometimes.

He was about to say something when I cut him off with a finger to his lips.

One of the larger Erasers stepped forward. And I recognized him immediately from my dream. Once again, appearing in front of my face, it was Ari. My half-brother.

Okay. Pause here. Ari and I don't share the same mother. All I know is that we share the same father. One problem. We don't know who our father is. Okay. Resume scene.

Only, Ari didn't look like the three-year-old that I left behind at the School five years ago. He was a fully grown, rotten, eight-year-old Eraser. Just like my dream.

He stopped about a foot from my face. I stood up to face him.

"Why." Is all I say to him.

"Why what Maxie?" he asked, totally innocent.

"Why would you let them do this to you? You were only three Ari."

He paused in thought.

"Revenge. You left me at the School, Max. They wanted to turn me into an Eraser. See what it was like if I wasn't an Eraser from birth. I let them do it. Not for their dumb, scientific purposes, but to get back at you. You were my only family and you just left. And you didn't bother to look back."

And lemme tell you. The way he put it made me feel like a terrible person.

I turned to Fang and I saw his eyes widen until they were golfballs. It would've been funny, if Ari hadn't set all those Erasers on us just then.

I had looked away for one second. And now dozens of Erasers were running towards us, getting ready to tear us to pieces. That's what I get for letting my guard down for _one second._

To fight? Or to fly? That is the question.

Fight.

Fly.

_Fight_.

_Time to kick some ass. _I thought. And I bet you Fang was thinking the same thing. 'Cause if he had wings like me, he probably had the strength I did.

I looked for Ari. My brother. How could I have let this happen? It's all my fault.

I should've stayed on guard. Because the next thing I knew, a two-hundred-fifty pound Eraser slammed into my side. That's what I get for thinking.

My senses kicked into gear. The stinking Eraser turned and scratched me accross my arm, leaving four parallel slash marks. _Ignore the pain Max. _He tried to get a punch at my face but I caught his fist mid-air and gave him a roundhouse kick square in the neck. I kicked him in the groin and he knelt over in pain for a fraction of a second. But that was all I needed. I finished him off in about two seconds. Maybe even less.

I looked over at Fang for a brief second and saw that he was taking on three Erasers at a time. Jeezus. One Eraser was enough but _three? _I have to help him.

"Fang!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. He looked over at me. Big mistake. Thats when Eraser number two nailed him in the eye. Ouch.

And before you could say 'ringer', I had kicked him at the base of his neck. He went down instantly, as if he had been triggered off.

Bingo.

I took out the other two in seconds and Fang looked at me in disbelief. I was having a pretty hard time believing myself too.

"Kick 'em at the base of their necks. Dead center!" I yell at him over the chaos going on.

He nodded and we took out as many Erasers as we could.

And then, it seemed as time had stood still. A high pitched, shrilling noise erupted in my eardrums. I covered my ears tightly, trying desperately to block out the sound. I saw that Fang was covering his ears also. What was going on?

All the Erasers froze. Including Ari. And then, as if they were remote control robots, they all snapped out their wings and flew West, like a swarm of geese, even the ones that were out cold, flew up with them. Just like that, they were gone. Leaving Fang and I in the desert.

Did those Erasers have _wings? _

I've got a major headache coming on.

I absent-mindedly wiped a few stray locks away from my face. No use. The wind still knocked them back in front of my eyes.

I turned to Fang, who was already looking at me. We were both breathing heavily, both from shock, and fighting the Erasers.

"Max? How do you know what those things are?" He asked me,

"How do _I _know? How do _you _know?" I yelled at him.

"I asked you first."

"Oh, my God, what are you? Ten?"

"Max." Death glare.

I gave in.

"Fine," I took a deep breath, and spilled, "I was made at a place called the School, in California. I escaped when I was ten. And I found my mom and Ella." I stopped. Preparing to ay the next part, "Ari, that Eraser...is my brother. Half-brother actually. We share a father, but neither of us know who he is. And I have no idea why I keep getting those random brain explosions." That was it. I didn't bother to mention Jeb. I shrugged, and waited for Fang to spill his story.

"Your turn." I say to him.

"It's weird," he said, "We were all made at the same place. Death Valley? Yeah. We got out when Iggy and I were eight, and Nudge, Gazzy and Angel were six. **(A/N: I made Nudge, Gazzy and Angel the same age, so they could all go to the same school.) **But, if we were at thesame place, I don't know how we never saw eachother..." he drifted off. That was all I needed to know.

I paused for a moment, in thought.

"What if we did?" I broke the silence. Fang looked up at me from his shoes.

"What if we knew eachother? But we don't remember? I know I don't remember most of the time I spent at the School. What if they didn't want us to know eachother? To find eachother?"

I could tell Fang was about to say something, but he was cut off by a deep rumbling.

Suddenly, the wind picked up, tossing my hair around and getting sand in my eyes. And then I saw the cloud. Which was unmistakeably a dust storm. And a big one at that.

"Fly away!" I yell. We unfurled our wings, and flew straight up, back to the academy.

We flew high above the clouds, avoiding the dust storm, until we were back at Tipisco Academy.

Now some of you may be thinking that it's stupid for us to go back to the academy, that the Erasers would find us again. Well, the thing is, we were a good fifteen miles outide of the school, smack dab in the middle of the desert. We're pretty much safe.

We landed on the roof of our dorm and climbed down to my window, since Fang didn't have one, while avoiding the night-time security guards.

I looked at my alarm clock. Four a.m. We were gone for a good two hours.

I found Ella in her bed, sleeping soundly still in her clothes. Someone must've brought her back. Probably Iggy.

"I should probably head back to my dorm." Fang said.

"Yeah. Your eye okay?"

"Yeah. It'll be gone by Monday."

I had almost forgotten he had wings. Almost.

"'Night." I said, yawning. I wwas crawling under the covers when Fang spoke.

"Hey,"

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad."

"'Bout what?" I was about to pass out.

"That I found out you had wings. I just always felt this weird connection to you. Only I didn't know how. So, I'm glad."

I thought for a second. I've been doing that a lot lately.

"Me too."

And right then, I passed out.

But before I did, I heard a voice.

_Max..._it whispered.

**So on my laptop, I dont have Microsoft Word. I just have generic wordpad. So it doesn't tell me how many words I've written. That really bugs me. I have a feeling that this is about fifteen hundred words. So I intend to get Microsoft Office soon.**

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	8. Chapter 8

**I am a terrible human being. Despicable. But in my defence, I couldn't write. No time. I try to write on the weekends when I stay up till two and I'll usually have about half the chapter done the first night and I'll do the second half the second night.**

**But...I got grounded. Word of advice; don't mouth off to your mom. She might just take your laptop. And phone. And remote. Forbidding you to watch television and making you practice instead. Or read paper books. Which I did.**

**Still no Microsoft Office. I intend to get it soon.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. Just the plot. James Patterson has th great mind of Max and Angel and Fang. He's a genius.**

**Heres the chapter.**

Chapter 8: Mind Games

**MAX POV**

I sat up straight in my bed. _What the hell? _I thought. Once again, my peace was interrupted by something from my "childhood" I like to call hell. What was this?

_Hello, Maximum..._a voice whispered in my head.

"Shut up." I said out loud.

_Max..._and suddenly I got a piercing headache. I heard a high shrilling noise. It wasn't nearly brain explosion level but it still hurt like a bastard.

I leaned over and switched on the light. I had almost forgotten that Ella was asleep across the room.

"Mmmhhmmppphhh..." Ella groaned, "What time is it...?" she said sleepily.

"Five a.m..." I groaned in pain of my headache.

"Whattsamatta?" She spoke with slurred words.

"Headache..."

She sat straight up then, instantly worried about me, "Is it another brain explosion?"

"No...but...uhhhh..." How am I supposed to tell her? _Uhhh...Ella? Yeah, sorry for waking you, but I'm hearing a voice and I think its related to my hell of a childhood at the School. But you go right back to sleep. _No.

"I think...I hear a voice."

"Maybe its just some kids down the hall."

"No. Not that kind of voice."

"Then what other kind of voice?"

"Ummmm..._inside _my head."

Ella's eyes widened until they were saucers. Which would've been funny if not given the situation.

"Yeah. I know. You might as well drive me to the nut-house now. Come on lets go."

"Okay. I feel like I missed something. When did _you _get in?"

"Uhh, 'bout ten minutes ago. **(A/N: Or a week. Again, I apologize for my lateness.) **Fang took me back."

"Max, you don't have to lie to me. You can tell me that you were out flying."

"Okay. I was. But..."

"_What._"

"He knows. Fang. About the wings. And uhh...he sorta has wings too. And so do Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy and Angel. They all do."

That girl was going to catch flies in her mouth if she didn't close it.

"Th-they-they..._WHAT?_"

"Apparently. I'm just surprised we didn't know about eachother. He told me that we went to the same lab in California."

"And you have a...voice."

"I dunno."

_Yes you do Max. _I flinched at the pain.

_Listen...Voice. Leave me alone would you._

_No. I can't. And you know it._

"SHUT UP!" I yelled loudly and clamped my hands over my ears as if it would keep the Voice out of my head.

"Max?" Ella got out of her bed and came to my side. She looked as if she was in thought for a second, and then she finally spoke.

"Come on."

"Where are we going?" It was five in the morning. I'm a teenager. I'm not getting ou tof my warm comfy bed.

"We're going to see the rest of the guys."

"Wha-noooooooo..." Fang only just now found out about me having wings and vice versa. I'm not getting him up at the crack of dawn because I now supposedly have a voice in my head.

"Whyyyyyyyy..." I complained.

"Because they might know something about it. Plus I have to yell at Iggy for not telling me that he had _freaking wings_." Iggy? Why would she care about _Iggy _not telling her? She was closer to Nudge and Angel. I figured she might be angrier with them.

"Why Iggy?"

"Uhhh...no reason."

And before I knew it, we were at Fang and Iggy's door, both of us in our oversized, worn pajamas.

Ella pounded on the door and yelled, "GET UP LOSERS!"

We walked diagonally across the hall to Nudge and Angels dorm, Ella dragging me and pounding on the door. And then we got to the Gasmans room. He got a room to himself for...obvious reasons.

When they all gathered in the hall, (they weren't too happy about it.) we all went into our dorm. We flicked on the lights and gathered around.

"What do you guys want?" Angel said grumpily.

"Yeah, I mean what is _so _important that you had to wake us all up at five in the freaking morning, Max? I mean, do you know how _important _a good nights sleep is? I'm probably gonna wake up all gross thanks to you guys with my eyes all puffy and dark and crap. I'm sorry. I'm really grumpy when I'm angry." Surprisingly, Nudge managed to find a stopping place in her rant. **(A/N: I love how my longest paragraphs are Nudge lines.) **

"We know." Ella said immedietly.

"Know what?" Iggy said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

In response I snapped out my wings. That woke them up. Everyone looked shocked except for Fang. He said-nothing. Until everyone looked at him accusingly. Except Iggy.

"What just happened?" he asked.

"Uhh...Max. S-she has...wings."

"Oh. I get it. Trick the blind kid. Nice. I'm goin' back to bed."

"Iggy, shut up." I took his hands and guided them so he felt my wings. His mouth partially dropped open.

"Fang," Iggy started, "How long have you known about Max?"

"Few hours."

"Does she-"

"Yeah. She knows about us. All of us."

Dead silent. Not even Nudge said anything. Which was surprising enough as it is.

Everyone glared at Fang. They probably think that he just told me. With everyone giving Fang the death glare, it was pretty creepy. So I said something.

"Look, guys. It's not his fault. I woke up at about two am last night and then jumped out my window to go for a flight. And then Fang flew up behind me. And...yeah." I gave Fang a look that said _should we tell them?_

_No. You don't want them worrying. _I read his face.

_Okay. _I nodded back.

"I don't understand how I couldn't have known. I haven't heard anything." What was Angel talking about? No one could've known.

"Angel, how would you have known in the first place?"

She turned to Fang, "You didn't tell her?"

"Tell me what?" This was starting to get annoying. What else was there?

"We all have additional...powers." Fang said to me.

"Like..."

"Iggy can feel colors, the Gasman can mimick anything, Nudge is practically magnetic, and Angel can read and control minds."

Damn. I had to remember not to have any private thoughts around Angel. What had she heard so far? Had she made me do anything? I felt my mouth drop open.

"What about you?" I asked Fang. But he wasn't there.

"I turn invisible." he stated matter-of-factly.

Awkward silence.

"So, that's not all we woke you guys up for." Ella said.

"Then why the hell did you wake us up?" Gazzy yelled.

"Uhhh...Max has been...uhhh."

"Hearing a Voice." I said. I got lots of disbelieving stares.

"Y-you...he-hear a...WHAT?" Iggy stuttered.

"A voice. In. My. Head."

_We all know I'm in your head Max. No need to deny it._

_SHUT UP._

_You know I won't. I'm here to stay. And you know it. _

With that, I flopped on my bed face down and screamed. There was barely enough room for me in my head. Now a freaking _voice?_

"Angel? Can you...ya know. Check out Max's head? Make sure there really is a voice?"

"Sure." I sat up and watched Angel intently. I didn't feel anything weird.

"Okay. I found it. I'm gonna see if I can try to get rid of it." I saw her fingers press to her temples and her eyebrows crease in frustration. After a couple minutes, it started to hurt.

"Hmmmph..." I mumbled in discomfort. And then it really started to hurt.

"Ow. Ange. OW!" I yelled. She stopped and then the pain stopped.

"Sorry Max. Did it work?"

_Why don't you figure it out for yourself Max. _the Voice said.

"Apparently not."

And then, time stood still. My window burst into shards of glass. None of us screamed. We were all too used to this. They found us again. And it sucked. The guys that had broken into our dorm were dressed in all black, and were armed.

I went into autopilot. I felt a large shard of glass cut through my left forearm. I threw a fist in the swarm of murderers. And I felt it connect with a satisfying crack of a nose. It felt good.

Alarms around the School blared and my ears hurt.

"ELLA GET OUT OF HERE!" this was my fight not hers. She had no reason to die. I heard her run out of the room and stopped worrying.

I heard kids exiting the building and police sirens outside. Or were they? Could we trust anybody? The answer was no.

And the worst thing of all. Something no one wants to here.

I heard a gun shot. And I heard someone scream in response.

And my heart caught in my throat.

**I was up all night writing this while being pressured by my friend to write. So I finished. And I'm hoping its long enough. Because if its not, I'm just gonna...yell. Yeah. Thats how much of a badass I am. I scream when I get frustrated. Like yesterday, I got a papercut while cleaning my room and I went on a mad cussing fit for about ten minutes. It was pretty funny to watch.**

**I'm trying to be more regular in updating. Sundays? I have time to write on weekends and thats it as I mentioned in the above A/N.**

**Hope you enjoyed.**

**REVIEW!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: SPRIIIIING BREAAAAAK! And I'm spending it stuck in an airport. My flight to Denver was delayed by like three hours. So I thought, hey. What better way to spend it than writing chapter 9?**

**Okay, so originally, I started writing this chapter in school and emailed it to myself. But now I'm in the airport and I have no internet. So I gotta copy it word for word from my phone where I took a picture of it.**

**One more thing. Follow me on Instagram =] see little snippits of my life and possibly a sneek peak of the next chapter. And my devil cat. My user name is EndlessWinters.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. However, it would be mighty cool if I did. Because then I would only know hat happens next and torture people with the information =]**

**Super long authors note, I know.**

**Here ya go.**

Chapter 9: Blink

I blinked.

All hell broke lose.

After that one gunshot, I heard another. There was another scream. Unfortunately, I recognized it. Ella. My baby sister had been shot.

I blinked again.

The whole academy erupted with gunshots. They had broken everywhere. Whoever they were.

Screams pierced my ears. People everywhere screamed bloody murder. And I couldn't do a thing.

_Yes you can, Maximum. Fight. _The Voice whispered.

But I couldn't. I couldn't breath. Two people in this room had been shot. And I have yet to know if they were dead.

Hesitation. Never hesitate. Especially when theres a freaking break-in slash shooting massacre.

Wanna know why? I felt a burst of pain in my left arm. Right where the glass had made a deep gash.

I fell to the ground, not expecting such pain from a bullet. Sure, I've been shot before but never this close up. It hurt. Bad.

I heard the police sirens. Someone must've called nine-one-one.

And here I was. On the floor. Helpless. I had lost so much blood, I was feeling lightheaded.

_Oh, God. Just let me die. _Why not? I was about to pass out when my eyess snapped open. The guys dressed in black were laeving. They seemed as though they were in a hurry. Maybe the sirens scared them off?

I remembered my sister's screams and somehow found the strength to stand up. I clamped a hand over my injured arm and walked. First light of the day. The sun was starting to rise on the horizon.

"Ohhhh..." Ella moaned.

I ran slash walked to her sid along with everyone else. I found Ella lying on the floor, right next to the door. She never amde it out.

"Oh, El." I crouched to er level. I couldn't see any blood where her vitals should be. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Where did you get hit, sweetie?" I asked her, my voice soft and soothing.

Her hand was clamped tightly around her thigh. She had been shot in the leg.

"Max?" Her voice was so weak I couldn't stand it.

"Yeah?"

"Gazzy. He was hit first, I think. But...but..." she looked like she was about to pass out.

"Ella. You need to stay awake. Okay? Were gnna call an ambulance. Now, what about Gazzy?"

"He's...way worse than I am. Like, ten times worse."

My heart could've stopped right there, right then.

So that's who was shot first. I didn't recognize the scream. I was afraid it might have been Fang. I quickly got up and found Gazzy, who was lying on the floor, his eyes in danger of shutting. For good maybe. That's how bad he looked.

I ran to the opposite side of the room where he was. There was a pool of crimson blood around him. He had definately been shot. Right in the center of his stomach.

"ANGEL!" I yelled. He was her twin brother. She needed to see him.

"GAZZY!" She yelled for her brother. The rest gathered around Gazzy except Ella. I grabbed his hand as if I was hanging on for dear life. Iggy's fingers brushed the area here he was shot and turned pale. I mean, paler than normal.

Nudge had been rendered silent. I was beginning to worry about her. Angel grabbed his other hand.

"Gasman, just hang on bud. We're gonna get you some help." Fang said, voice quaking. Luckily, he wasn't hurt to bad. Just a black eye and a few cuts and scrapes.

"Mmmmmpphhh..." he mumbled. His eyes were fluttering.

"Come on, let's go." Fang picked him up and Iggy picked up Ella and we walked outside to the courtyard where the police and ambulances were. We weren't the only ones that were there. There were people on gurneys, paramedics examining students and teachers, some working frantically on those who were critically injured. Dr. Walker was talking in hushed tones to an officer.

We caught the eye of a few paramedics who rushed over to us with a couple gurneys.

"Jesus..." One of them muttered under his breath as he saw the Gasman. His pale blond hair was sticking to his forehead and he was sweating. But the real show was his gun wound in his abdomen. The paramedic layed Gazzy down on a gurney.

Another paramedic took a look at Ellas leg. I was still worried about her, but I knew she would be fine.

Gazzy was another story however. Despite his birdkid strength, that gun wound could kill him. Actually, I'm surprised he's not dead already. His face was pale white from all the blood he lost.

Angel was sniffling next to me. She went up to a paramedic and looked at him with her angelic, blue, bambi eyes that no one could resist.

"I-is m-my brother gonna be o-okay?" tears were spilling over her cheeks. I could see the look of the paramedics eyes soften as he saw Angel.

"Well, sweetie, I don't know." he said back to her. Angels tears turned into full blown sobs as she snuggled up next to me. I stroked her soft curls soothingly.

"Listen," I said to the paramedics who now had my sister, "She's gonna be okay isn't she?"

"Are you family?"

"She's my sister."

"She'll be just fine. The bullet just missed an arterie. But it punctured the tissue and muscle pretty badly. She'll probably have a limp for a couple of months. Can I have some information? Parents, date of birth, stuff like that?"

"Sure. Her names Ella Martinez, born October nineteenth nineteen ninety eight. No father, our moms name is Dr. Valencia Martinez. And she can be reached at the Second Street Animal Hospital."

"Thank you, miss."

"Are you gonna have to take her to the ER?"

"Yes we are. Would you like to ride with her in the ambulance?"

"Well, yeah but my friend over their...he's gonna go to right? Can they ride together?" **(A/N: I know this isn't how it works but this is MY story. Get over it.)**

The paramedic thought for a second.

"Sure."

"Uhhh...where can I go to get this fixed up?" I showed the guy my injured arm, which was bleeding heavily now.

"Wow. You're gonna need stitches for that. Come hop up on this stool and I'll get it fixed right up for you."

I sat up on the stool and held my arm out. Fang came wandering over.

"What's goin' on?" he asked.

"Gotta get stitches."

"Oh."

"How's Gazzy doin?"

"Not good."

I felt my heart quicken a bit. Would he die? I was afraid to ask. He had been hurt pretty fatally.

I felt the antiseptic sting my arm but then it soothed quickly. The paramedic picked out piece of broken glass out of my arm with a pair of tweezers. I saw the guy pick out something from my arm. Not a bullet. Not glass. It was about an inch by inch square.

"Huh..." he said wonderingly. "I think this is a...tracking chip?"

I felt sick.

"Get. Rid. Of. It." I said firmly. "Now." Fang snatched it from him and stomped on it with his combat boot. Good riddance. Everything seems to make sense now.

The paramedic stitched up my arm. After about the first few stitches, Fang flinched.

"Uhhh...Max? I'm gonna go check up on Angel." Wimp. But I had to admit, I felt a little faint myself.

"You two make a very cute couple." the paramedic said to me after Fang as out of earshot.

"What? No no no. We are NOT a couple."

"Have you seen the way the guy looks at you? He's totally smitten with you."

I looked down as my cheeks blushed furiously.

Many questions arose after that.

But one question kept bugging me. Would Gazzy die?

*****PAGE BREAK*****

We got to the hospital in a matter of minutes. Ella passed out. At first I was worried, but the paramedics assured me that she was okay.

The Gasman was a different story though. He had at least four machines hooked up to him and three paramedics working on him frantically.

They took him away after we got to the hospital. Angel tried to follow but was blocked by a doctor who told her she could not pass.

Then something happened that I'd never seen happen to Angel. Her face turned practically red and her brows creased tightly in frustration.

"Tell me what room he's in. Let me go in there. Now." she said so firmly that I got chills down my spine.

The doctor looked baffled.

"Room 403. A-wing." his voice was almost robotic. It was creepy. Angel and the rest of us pushed our way past the idiot doctor.

Being in the hospital freaked us all out. The smell itself was enough. But the syringes and medical scrubs and lab coats DROVE ME INSANE.

I could barely look at the Gasman when we walked into his room. Numerous doctors were trying to save him. He was out cold with tubes sticking out and in him. He was pale. I looked over at the heart monitor and saw that it was beating fastly. Faster than normal. His chest was going up and down fast and shallow.

A doctor saw us in the corner looking at him and walked our way.

"You kids can't be in here."

"Yes we can." Angel said firmly. The doctor looked taken back a bit. He wasn't expecting that from a thirteen year old girl.

"Are you family?"

"Yeah." Fang said to the doctor whose name was Dr. Harvey according to his very distinguised name tag.

"Listen," he said in a hushed tone, "His chances are very slim. And I mean _very. _This kids held on for a long time. But his gun wound is too bad. He has a fifteen percent chance of living."

Everyone was silent.

"My turn?" I said to him. He nodded.

"You listen _very carefully._ You will do _everything _you can to be sure that he survives. You hear me?" he opened his mouth to say something but I held up a hand.

"No. _Everything. _Or I will make your life a living hell. And trust me. I'm not a person you want to upset. Got it?" the whole time, Dr. Harvey remained his composure. He didn't look the least bit scared. Damn. He was tough. But then again, he _did_ work in a hospital. He probably dealt with this type of stuff from family every day.

Fang pushed himself in front of me. _Time to get the party started. _Fang would scare the living crap outta the guy. Somehow, I knew what was going to happen. Someone was gonna have to spill the beans eventually.

"Listen, Doc. This kid here? He's not normal." Fang snapped out his wings. Everyone did the same. All the doctors and surgeons in the room turned. Some gasped. Others looked faint. It would've been funny if Gazzy wasn't about to die.

"There are only six of us in the world. And as you can guess, we're _extremely _rare. We're worth billions of dollars. You don't wanna be responsible for the death of a human-avian hybrid now do you?" The doctor flinched.

"Just like Max here said, you are going to do _everything _possible to make sure he'll be okay. There's six of us and one of you. And we are _more _than capable of making your life a living hell. Or at least send you there and save you the pain. You've got three choices, Doc. Make sure he lives, have your life be a living hell, or _die._ I'd choose the first one if I were you."

I stared in awe at Fang. I didn't know he was capable of saying so much at once. I thought he was always just real simple when it came to words. You know. Like _me hungry. Shiny light._ Stuff like that. Except not so neandertholical **(A/N: Is that a word?)**.

I held my breath. Waiting for an answer from . He nodded ever so slightly. I folded in my wings and kept the hard look on my face.

"One condition." Fabulous.

"You kids all have to wait out in the lobby until we're done with the operation."

"I have a condition to your condition." I added. Dr. Harvey rose an eyebrow at me.

"Go right ahead." He didn't like me. Excellent. That meant he feared me after all.

"You give us all five minutes alone with him. Everyone leaves but us." I raised my eyebrows in question.

He exhaled heavily.

"Fine." And with that, all the doctors left the room. As soon as the door shut, we all ran to Gazzy's side. Angel grabbed his hand. His eyes fluttered open, as if sensing his sisters presence.

"A-Angel?" he said. His voice was barely above a whisper. "Guys?" he said when he saw all of us.

"We're here sweetie." I said to him.

"Gazzy. Don't die on us. _Please,_" Angel was starting to cry now, "I need you. You're my brother, Gazzy. You _can't _leave us. You just can't!" She covered her mouth with her other hand. I could tell she didn't want to cry. But she couldn't help it. Her brother was on his death bed. Fang put a hand on her shoulder.

"Angel. I'll be fine." she was silent for a bit. And started to cry again. I'm guessing she read his mind.

"Angel. I love you. You're my little sister. I'll always love you. I love all you guys. But I'll be fine, Ange."

"NO YOU WONT!" Nudge said, speaking up for the first time, "Dont you see what's happened to you, Gazzy? You we're SHOT! You got shot with a freaking GUN!" Tears spilled freely over her cheeks. Iggy wrapped her in his arms. How he knew where she was, I have no idea.

"I will. But incase I do, I just wanna say a few things," we all listened attentively. "Iggy. You're my best pal, the greatest pyro I've ever known and the greatest friend. I've never felt more connected to anyone except Angel," Iggy nodded. He was even crying silent tears. "Nudge, you have the biggest mouth I've ever heard of, the girliest girl and the most unique person I've ever known," Nudge had stopped crying. "Fang, I never really got you. You've always been this quiet person. But you're a pretty cool guy." Fang smiled slightly, "Max, I haven't known you for that long, but I feel like I've known you forever. And you and Fang obviousley like eachother. Just go for it."

"No we don't!" Fang and I said in unison. I blushed. Gazzy started to chuckle and then winced in pain.

"And Angel," he started. "You're my sister. My twin. I've never met anyone smarter, prettier or loving than you. Even though you can be a total control freak sometimes and have your occasional meltdowns, I love you. And if I die, I'll always be in your heart. And your DNA. And you'll always be in my heart. I love you, Ange." With his free hand, he lifted up his shirt. Not so that we could see his gaping hole in his stomach, but something else. A tattoo. Right over the area where his heart is, was a tattoo of a reddish-pink heart with a black outline. In the center of it, Angel's name was written in beautiful calligraphy. I think it touched all of us. Even Iggy.

"I love you, Gazzy." she kissed his forehead.

"I love all you guys." We all took turns hugging him. I gave him a soft squeeze and a kiss on the forehead. Iggy took his hand and squeezed and gave him a sympathetic smile. Fang did the same. Nudge hugged him.

We left the room. Completely unsure of the Gasmans future.

*****PAGE BREAK*****

After checking up on Ella, who would be just fine, we all sat in the lobby silently. Waiting. Scared. Especially Angel. I chewed my nails, which were hideous enough. So there was no worrying about having poorly manicured hands.

Fangs head was in his hands. He was hunched over, eyes closed. He was muttering under his breath, things that even with my superhearing, I couldn't hear. Praying maybe? I guess that was the only explanation.

Angel was staring off into the distance, her mind wandering. She had dark circles under her eyes. I didn't blame her. We were all tired. I touched her shoulder.

"Sweetie, get some sleep." She looked down at her hands and shook her head.

"I can't. I can't sleep knowing my brother might die at any moment." Well she got me there. I just hugged her tight. She was all cried out. I think we all were.

"You gonna be okay?" I asked her.

"No. It's all my fault."

"What is?" I brushed the hair out of her face.

"That Gazzy got shot."

"What? No it wasn't."

"Yes it was. One of those guys aimed his gun at me and Gazzy stepped in front of me at the last second. It's my fault he might die, Max. And now I'll never shake the feeling of being responsible for his death."

"Oh, sweetie. It's not your fault. Don't you ever think that, ever. Gazzy would want you to know that." I hugged her even tighter. Still no tears.

It had been about an hour and a half. Still no word. I figured they should've finished the operation by now. We were still waiting on word from Dr. Harvey if he made it or not.

_Fifteen percent, Max. Think about it. The odds are not in his favor. _The Voice said to me.

_SHUT. UP. We don't know anything yet. So just do me a favor and stop making my stomach churn alright? _No answer. Good riddance.

_Not quite._

Great.

Dr. Harvey cleared his voice. He was standing not three feet in front of us. He took a deep breath. _Oh, God. _I thought.

"We did everything we could." My eyes started to well up with tears.

"But his injuries were too great. You're friend didn't make it. I'm sorry." he said it with sympathy in his voice at least.

Tears were now spilling over my cheeks. To avoid further embarassment, I burried my face in Fangs shoulder. Replaying the Gasmans last words in my head. They would be there forever.

I sniffled loudly. He was gone. He was really gone. There was nothing more that we could do.

I felt Fangs head lean on mine. And tears soak through my head. I felt his chest move up and down irratically as he cried with me.

My heart sank in my chest. I thought about what Gazzy said about Fang and me. Did I like him? As a friend yeah. But as something more? At the moment, I'm not so sure.

He had died. A part of Angel had died. And something in all of us died as well. And they did it. This was too far.

*****PAGE BREAK*****

Ella came with us back to the academy on her crutches and her leg wrapped up numerous times. She was pretty depressed about the Gasmans death as well. But not as much as Angel.

When we got back, we found out that two other students had died as well. Someone named Dylan, and another girl whose name I didn't remember.

There would be a memorial service in the mess halls balcony (which was huge) this afternoon. At first I turned the idea down, thinking that it would only cause me to cry in public. But then I thought about the Gasman. I needed to honor the kid. It was the least I could do. I was planning on doing a song. Fang, Iggy, and Ella were going to be the band. Iggy, (this surprised me) was doing drums, Fang was playing bass (which also surprised me), Ella was playing keyboard and I would be singing and playing my electric.

The mess hall filled with kids. We were up next. was perfectly fine with the idea of us doing a song at the memorial service.

I stepped up to the stage, trying not to feel nervous. And failing. I sat on a tall wooden stool and adjusted the mic. I took a deep breath.

"Hi." I said to the faces staring up at me and the guys.

"Uhh...this song is dedicated to the three kids who passed away this morning. Especially to a dear friend of mine, Gazzy. We're gonna do Elements by A Fine Frenzy."

This song has absolutely nothing to do with death. I was only singing it because it was the Gasmans favorite song.

I got situated and Iggy started on the drums. Keyboard. Bass. Guitar. Me.

_You show up like a hurricane, all hungry-eyed and weather-stained,_

_The clock forgets to tick and I the same._

_I died the day you disappeared, so why would you be welcome here?_

_Ride the wind that brought you back away._

_No you can't come in,_

_No you can't come in._

_I cannot stop my rebel hands from pulling out the pots and pans,_

_I left you in the cold until you shook._

_You're gentle now, but I recall,_

_Both tender fire and bitter squall_

_A history so deep it hurts to look._

_No you can't come in,_

_No you can't come in._

_If the sea should swallow up my house,_

_I will turn my rooftop inside out _

_And the wind will be wailing,_

_But I will be sailing faster._

_Oh the elements I do not fear but I fall apart_

_When you appear,_

_'Cause you are the greatest,_

_The greatest disaster._

_Oh Ah-Ahhhh_

_If the sea should swallow up my house_

_I will turn my rooftop inside out_

_And the wind will be wailing,_

_But I will be sailing faster._

**(A/N: Go look up this song. Not everyone might like but I love it.)**

Silence at first. Was I really that terrible? Did I choke up in the middle of the song?

What was that sound? Clapping? Why yes, it was. Students and teachers alike started to clap. It was one of those dramatic claps that started off slow and then eventually grew into a full blown applause.

I spotted Angel and Nudge in the front row, hugging and crying hysterically.

I was about to cry as well. I just made it back stage when tears started spilling over. I set my guitar down gently. I saw Fang run backstage and found me with my face in my hands, and me sniffling loudly. Wimpering ever so softly.

"Max..." he mumbled. I looked up and saw him about a foot away from me. He wiped the tears off my face with his thumbs. And for a while, just held my face in his hands.

"Hey," he started, "You were amazing out there. I know that was hard for you."

"It's all my fault. I'm the reason They found us. I'm the reason he's dead."

"Shut up, Max. You didn't do anything."

"I could've gone to school somewhere else."

"Don't say that."

"Why not."

"I wouldn't want to have it any other way."

For a while we just stood there, staring into eachothers eyes. Trying to find _some _sense of emotion.

And then, Fang leaned.

**This was a depressing chapter. DONT HATE ME BECAUSE I KILLED HIM! I HATE TO ADMIT IT BUT I HAD TO! It was a hard thing for me to do even if this is a fanfic. Okay, if you want to know the reason that I killed him, here it is (If not, just skip ahead) The reason I killed Gazzy is because I couldn't write enough dialogue for him. I mainly kept the focus on the other characters. I just didnt feel like he was an important enough character.**

**I'm sooooo sorry for the wait! I'm on vacation in Colorado, skiing and I have absolutely NO INTERNET. So I thought I would reward you guys' patience with an extra long chapter =]**

**Hope you enjoyed. Follow me on InstaGram (endlesswinters).**

**REVIEW!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Last chapter was depressing. I almost cried writing it. Nothing much to say. Hopefully this will be another long chapter. Vacation gives you a lot of free time. Especially when you're sore. Warning: Don't go skiing on black diamond trails unless you're READY. I fell about five times and lost both my skiis. Needless to say, I'm never going on another black diamond trail let alone a DOUBLE black diamond trail. I stick to blues and greens.**

**If you want to see pictures of my lovely trip, follow me on InstaGram (endlesswinters) and see some really awesome mountains. And sled dogs =]**

**Robert de Spaz: I took up your idea of eating one sausage for every cliffhanger I do. My mom made sausage for dinner one night and I almost died laughing. I took one bite and the sausage was gross. Sorry. Just couldn't do it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. But it would be cool if I did because then I would be the only one who knew what would happen next. Credit goes to the incredible James Patterson.**

**Heres the chapter.**

Chapter 10: Beneath

Fang leaned in to hug me tightly. I held on to him for dear life. He was the only thing right now that was keeping me sane right now. We pulled apart. We stared at each other.

The cause of what happened next baffled me. I don't know if it was what Gazzy said before he died, because I truly _did _have feelings for Fang, or because all my emotions were screwed up and I just didn't know what to do. Or just because he was...Fang.

I kissed him. And not your usual peck on the cheek, "just friends" kiss. Full-blown, on the mouth kiss.

I felt him lean back in surprise. I had almost knocked him down with the force of my kiss. His mouth was hard against mine, but then I felt it soften. One arm wrapped around my waist and his free hand cupped my cheek gently.

And you know whats funny? Even though _I _had kissed him, I still didn't know what I felt for him.

I suddenly realized what I had done. I had kissed my best friend. I pulled away quickly and stared at him, not knowing what to do. I unwrapped my arms from his neck. But his arm still encircled my waist and his hand was still cupping my face.

"I-" I stuttered. I didn't know what to say. I had no explanation for what I had just done. Actually I did. But the way Fang kissed me just seemed so...genuine. It felt real. Like Fang really did have feelings for me. If I explained myself, I feared I would hurt him terribly.

So I ran. I flew down the spiral staircase of the balcony and ran to my dorm. When I was dead center in the middle of the courtyard, and slid to a stop. I knew what I had to do. I don't know if I was going to do it because I was confused, insane or anything else. I just had to do it.

**FANG POV:**

I knew what Max was feeling. I had known the Gasman for as long as I could remember. I missed him. I leaned in to hug her. When I did, she hesitated a second before hugging me back so tightly, I almost started coughing. When we pulled apart, we stared at eachother for what seemed like an eternity.

She kissed me. She had kissed me right on the mouth. I stumbled back in surprise. I kissed her back. I wrapped one arm around her waist and cupped her face with my other hand.

I didn't know if I wanted this moment to end. For one thing, Max was my best friend. And now we were...kissing?

I don't know if a person can taste like emotions, but Max certainly did. Our kisses tasted of desperation and sadness. I was confused too. If I wanted to pull away, I was afraid I would hurt Max's feelings. I felt a stirring emotion inside my chest as we kissed. But before I could figure out what it was, she pulled away. I opened my eyes. She looked surprised at herself.

"I-" she stuttered. I didn't know what to say either. It was like I was reading her mind.

But before I could say anything to her, she ran off. And my first thought was; _God, she's a fast runner. _

With almost silent footsteps, I followed her.

**MAX POV:**

I stopped at the dorm next door to Fang and Iggy's. It was the Gasmans room. Without hesitation, I pulled out the lock picking kit that I stole from Iggy and picked the lock to the room. When I opened the door, I instantly felt a wave of emptiness. And a stench that made my eyes water.

I spotted a large box in the corner. _Perfect. _I thought. As fast as I could, I rifled through drawers and cabinets, even under the bed. I gathered up all his stuff that I could find and stuffed it in the box, and sealed it shut.

Next stop, janitors closet. Nothing much. I just grabbed a shovel and ran outside to a secluded part of the courtyard where no one goes. It was all grass. Green. His favorite color. Just the thought of it made me choke up a bit.

I jammed the shovel into the ground, scooping up dirt and grass as I went. I needed to make the hole as deep and large as possible. I shoveled angrily and threw the dirt and grass everywhere.

I felt him. I felt Fang behind me.

"Max?" he said, his voice tinted with concern.

"What." I didn't turn around or stop what I was doing.

"Whatcha doin?"

"What the hell does it look like I'm doing, Fang?" I turned around and glared at him.

"Uhhh...digging to China?" After realizing that my glare had no effect on him, I went back to digging. My shovel hit something hard with a _clank! _I struck harder. Still there. I kept hitting the thing in my way with my shovel angrily until I jammed my finger.

"DAMN IT!" I yelled as I held my finger. I got so frustrated, that I just sat down on the grass and cried. I cried. What was that? The third time today? I was becoming weak. I tried to hide my tears from Fang but failed. He sat next to me in the grass and put an arm around my shoulder and hugged me tight.

"Max. What exactly were you planning on doing?"

"We didn't get to have a funeral for him. They cremated him at the hospital. I just wanted to bury his stuff. So it would seem like we got to have one for him." I wiped my runny nose on my sleeve.

"Oh..." Fang sighed. He kissed my hair.

After a moment of silence, he spoke up.

"Can I help you?"

"No." I stood up and walked over to the hole I made. I decided that getting the thing out with the shovel would be a waste of time. So I reached inside the hole, and felt around for the thing that was blocking my path. I felt...a handle? I gave it a yank. No luck. This time, I gave it a harder one.

It opened. It wasn't a rock. It wasn't a piece of concrete lost inside the earth. It was a door. A trap door to be exact. When I yanked it open, it surprised me and I fell in, head-first. I gave a shout and fell. And fell, and fell, and fell. It was like falling down the rabbit hole in Alice and Wonderland. That's how deep it was.

I hit my head at the bottom of the hole so hard I literally saw stars. And when I looked up, I realized that it wasn't just any hole in the ground. It was a tunnel. A very long one. To my left, it stopped after about ten feet. To my right, it looked like it when on and on forever.

"Max! You okay?" I heard Fang yell from the surface. He seemed like he was a million miles away.

"Oh, yeah! After falling about fifty freaking feet and hitting my head, I feel just _perfect_!" I yelled back.

I heard a soft ruffle of wings and before I knew it, Fang was next to me, looking at the never ending tunnel.

"Whoa..." he muttered. I started to walk down the tunnel when Fang grabbed me by the arm.

"Max, no. You don't know what could be down there."

"Which is exactly why I'm going down there."

"Max, I'm not letting you go down there."

"You could always come with me, you know."

"I'm _not _going down that tunnel."

"Okay. Have fun then." I started walking down the tunnel.

"Max." he said warningly.

"Fang." I mocked his tone. I looked at him as if to say _Are you coming or not, you wimp? _

He threw his head back and exhaled heavily.

"Fine." he sounded as if he had just had it with me.

As we walked further and further down the tunnel, a small light appeared at what looked like the end. As we kept walking towards it, it grew bigger in size. I looked at Fang. He looked just as confused as I was. We started running at it. We couldn't fly at it because the tunnel wasn't wide enough. Unless we wanted to fly sideways, we woud have to go by foot.

After about a mile and a half of walking, we reached the end. And the source of the light, came from a door with a window on the upper half. There were curtains drawn. I tried opening it, but it was locked from the inside. I knelt down to pick the lock, when Fang stopped me-again. This was getting annoying. Who does he think he is? My protector? Right.

I glared at him threateningly. I gave him a look that said, _If you try to stop me one more freaking time, I will bit your hand off and stick it down your throat. _He let go of my shoulder and I continued trying to pick the lock.

After about ten minutes with no success of opening the door, I gave up and just started kicking at the door knob with all my strength. Fang just looked at me.

"Are you gonna help me or not?" I asked him.

We both started kicking at the door with all our might, hoping that someway, somehow, we would be able to see what was behind it.

There was a crack. I saw a crack run along the side of the door. We were getting close. With a couple more kicks, the door gave way. We hesitated for a moment. Deciding if we wanted to go in or not. The place gave me the creeps.

Fang was the first one to step inside. It just looked like an abandoned room. But someone forgot to shut the lights off. Either way, it was still creepy.

After a minute of contemplating, I stepped inside. It smelled earily like antiseptic. It was a plain, white room with no windows. The fluffy white carpet looked a little _too_ perfect. Almost like no one even dared to step onto it even with perfect little socks or brand new shoes. Or they were just obsessed with the cleanness of the carpet. I took my shoes off. If whoever used this room was one of Them, there was no sense in letting them know Fang and I were here.

"Fang," I whispered, "Take your shoes off," he looked around and seemed to understand why and took off his boots.

There were a couple white chairs, that looked fitted to be in a model home. It was almost like in this room, whoever maintained it, wanted to be sure there was absolutely no evidence. To whatever it was.

Voices. And not just the one in my head. Real voices. They were so soft that normal humans wouldn't be able to hear them at all. I looked at Fang. He was frozen in place. Eye's like a deer in headlights. We opened our wings a bit, incase we needed to make a quick getaway.

I heard a low growl. After spending the first ten years of your life at the School, you recognize that growl. It's like having perfect pitch. But instead of recognizing the name of the note, you can tell _on the spot _what the growl belonged to. Or even _who _it belonged to. And this one belonged to Ari. My half-brother.

I wanted to get out of here. Make a break for it, and fly straight out of here. Every sense in my body told me to run. Run and don't look back.

_Just like you did to Ari, Max. _the Voice said. I ignored it.

Except one. One of my senses told me to peer around the corner and see who it was. And what they were doing. What they were talking about.

Naturally, I listened to that one part of me that was maybe just _too _curious.

With footsteps softer than Fangs (and that's saying something) I rounded the corner. There was a white, metal door. No fingerprints. Not even on the handle. The door looked like it was designed so that no sound could get through. Inside or out. Looks like they never took bird-kid super hearing into account. I could hear every word they were saying, loud and clear. A couple inches above my eyes, was a peephole. I rose up on my toes and peered through. I had to hold in a gasp.

"You're sure?" Anne Walker asked Dr. Harvey.

"Absolutely. The boy made it, and he's very well. He's being shipped off to California as of right now." he said with a heavy British accent.

"And the other students?" Brigid Dwyer asked.

"I told you, Dr. Dwyer. They're of no use to the School or me. They would never had made it anyway."

"Dr. Walker. You failed. At the hospital this morning, the other children showed up at once. Judging from body language, they were all quite comfortable with eachother. Why didn't you keep them apart like we ordered? You do understand that they can't know about eachother."

Dr. Walker lowered her head as if she had failed at her task. Which she clearly had if Dr. Harvey was talking about us.

"I couldn't help it. If I deliberately tried to keep them apart, they would suspect something."

"I'm _very _sorry to hear that. But unfortunately, we don't offer second chances in my line of work." with that, he took a gun out from behind his back and shot at Dr. Walker in the head. She dropped dead instantly. Brigid looked like she was about to lose her lunch, but she remained her composure.

"Ah, Ari my boy," Dr. Harvey said, now to Ari who had just entered the room. "You know what to do." But I didn't. I grabbed Fangs hand and we hightailed it out of the place. We picked up our shoes at the entrance and shut the door silently, being sure to lock it on our way out.

We spread our wings and flew sideways out the tunnel and up to the surface. I shut the trap door slash secret entrance and as fast and neat as I could, I filled up the gaping hole I made with dirt. Now no one had ever gone in or out.

"Max, what'd you hear in there? Who was in there?" Fang said, gasping. He was still trying to catch his breath.

"He's alive. The Gasman's alive, Fang. I heard Dr. Walker, Dr. Harvey, and Brigid talking about it. Fang. Dr. Harvey killed Dr. Walker because she couldn't keep us apart. Oh, my God." I said, finally realizing what had just happened. "Ari was in there too. That's when I left. But Gazzy's alive. They're shipping him off to the School right now."

Fang just stared at me, like he could't believe what he'd just heard. Then he smiled. Or sort of. I've developed a theory that Fang is incapable of completely smiling.

"He's alive." He repeated. And then, Fang strode towards me and kissed me. He kissed me like he was afraid to lose me. Like he would never see me again. Like I had almost died.

And I think I liked it. It wasn't like when I kissed him before and I didn't know how I felt. My emotions were all over the place. I forgot to breathe, and pulled away. I opened my eyes. Fang looked like he wanted to kiss me again.

"Max," he started. At least he had an explanation. "I'm sorry. I-I dunno what I was thinking. I guess I was just overwhelmed and...I was afraid that you might've died in there." I stepped a bit further away from him. I'll admit it. I was scared. I was scared that I would lose my best friend.

"Fang," I interrupted him, "It's okay. I pretty much did the same thing to you. But I didn't know what I was doing. I think I was just upset." Crap. Did I just say that out loud? Fang looked like I had just slapped him. Quickly, I changed the subject,

"Look, Gazzy's alive. We've got to tell Angel and the others. We've got to find him."

He nodded his head. And we ran.

But before we did, the ground beneath us exploded.

**AND THE PLOT THICKENS!**

**Another semi-longish chapter. I get back to school tomorrow and wont update again until maybe this Sunday.**

**GUESS WHO GOT TICKETS TO THE MIDNIGHT PREMIERE OF THE HUNGER GAMES! ME! Four days. And the world will be watching =]**

**I'm super excited. And if you haven't read the books, I recommend it before watching to movie.**

**REVIEW!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I feel bad. No. I feel terrible. Why? Because I am a terrible person. So here goes my long rant and excuses about WHY I couldnt write the chapter. Okay, first and foremost, I was in Minnesota for Easter (How was ya'lls by the way?) visiting my family. And they sure do know how to keep me busy. And I was PLANNING on writing on the plane there and back and possibly while I was there but no. I decided to be lazy and SLEEP. And I had possibly the WORST case of writers block ever to be heard of. But I did enjoy seeing my family =]**

**So now, I'm sitting here writing in the early hours of the morning.**

**Muchos apologies. Here's the chapter.**

Chapter 11: Home...sort of.

"Duck!" Fang yelled. I dropped to the ground instantly next to Fang. He used his arm to cover my head.

Chunks of dirt and grass rained down as the ground exploded. My eardrums were ringing.

And just when we thought it was over, it exploded again.

When we were _positive _that the explosions were over, we stood up to assess the damage. Why would the ground just..._explode _like that? I mean, I've walked on a lot of ground in my fifteen years of life. And its been very rare when it exploded after I walked on it. I always thought because I was just too awesome for the ground that it just exploded until I realized that it was set off by mines underground. And then it hit me.

"Oh, God." I muttered. Fang turned to me, a questioning look on his face.

"What?"

"Mines. Fang, we set off the mines! They know someone came in now!" We've gotta get outta here before Ari gets here!" I saw Fang try to unfold his wings but I stopped him.

"No! Are you _insane? _We can_not _fly here!"

"Oh. Right." Trust me, I would fly away here at top speed if I could. But I guess we would just have to flee the old fashioned way, on foot.

We stood still.

"Well come on, loser!"

"Max! Where are we gonna go?"

He got me there.

"We're gonna tell the others that the Gasmans alive. They deserve that at least."

We flew.

*****PAGE BREAK*****

"ANGEL! NUDGE! ELLA! OPEN UP! AND GET IGGY!" I screamed through Nudge and Angels door in the hallway.

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD MAX! WE'RE ONLY FIVE FEET AWAY FROM YOU AND THE DOORS ARE THIN! QUIT SCREAMING!" Iggy yelled back. Yet the door remained closed.

"OPEN THE FREAKING DOOR YOU GUYS!"

"I'LL OPEN THE DOOR WHEN YOU QUIT YELLING, MAX!"

"I'LL QUIT YELLING WHEN YOU OPEN THE DOOR, IGGY!"

"Ooohh...I'm SOO scared."

"YEAH! WELL YOU SHOULD BE!"

"WHY THE HELL SHOULD I BE SCARED?"

"IGGY, I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU DON'T OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW, I WILL LOCK YOU IN A VERY _VERY _SMALL ROOM WITH NUDGE FOR HOURS!"

Silence. I already knew I won. I looked at Fang.

"I'm impressed." he said.

"Why thank you Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome." I replied in the fakest British accent I could manage.

"Oh, so I'm handsome I see?" he wiggled his eyebrows at me. Crap. Did I say that out loud?

"IGGY!" I yelled again, trying to change the subject.

The door opened furiously.

"_What _is so important that you just _had _to interrupt us mourning over Gaz?" Iggy said, looking me dead in the eyes. Or at least, pretty close anyways.

"Well, you guys won't have to be mourning any longer."

Iggy looked confused. "I'm confused."

"Big surprise, Ig."

Fang and I pushed our way past him and into the dorm where Nudge, Angel and Ella were. They were just sitting around, looking depressed. I didn't blame them.

"Guys. Get up. We gotta tell you something."

"Oh, God. Max, you and Fang are going out now aren't you?" Ella said.

"It's about time..." Angel murmered. Nudge, was surprisingly saying nothing, just sitting on her bed picking a thread from the comforter.

"God, what is with you people?" Seriously? Am I the only person who _doesn't _see it?

"But no, that's not it."

"Then what?" Nudge said, finally speaking up.

I looked at Fang, who was also looking at me. He nodded.

"He's alive. Gazzy's alive guys."

I think everyone in the room stopped breathing. Angels bright blue eyes started watering up. Iggy spoke up from behind me.

"Okay. If this is you guys some sick attempt at a joke, it's really-"

"No," Angel said, holding a standing up. She looked at me and Fang hard. "No, Iggy. She's telling the truth." Silent tears rolled down her cheeks now. Trust me, Angel crying is a pretty hard thing to look at.

"Max, how do you know this?" Ella asked.

Now how on Earth was I gonna explain this? I went ballistic and wanted to bury the Gasmans things and ended up accidently discovering a secret lab underneath the academy that murdered and is currently shipping Gazzy off to Death Valley? Well, ladies and gentlemen, just leave it to Fang.

"Max sorta went berserk and started digging in the ground trying to bury Gazzy's stuff and she hit a trap door with a shovel. Turns out it leads to a lab-slash-secret meeting room underneath TA. **(A/N: I'm tired of writing out 'the academy' all over. I'm abbreviating it to TA for Tipisco Academy.) **Dr. Harvey was there. Ya know. They doctor from the hospital. He's a whitecoat. Killed 'cause she couldn't keep us from knowing eachother. was there too. They're shipping off Gazzy to the School." All eyes were on Fang. Except for Iggy. But that doesn't matter.

"OMIGOD! HE'S REALLY ALIVE YOU GUYS!" Nudge yelled.

"Yeah, but what are we gonna do aboout the secret lab _underneath our school?_" I ask insistantly.

"Well, we can't go to the principal now...ironic how it's princi-PAL, and ours turns-_turned _out to be a psychotic whitecoat that murders kids." Iggy said.

"Well then, what are _we _supposed to do?" Nudge asked.

"Only one thing _to _do, guys. We gotta fly to California and get the Gasman back. And turn in-slash-destroy that lab underneath TA." I said.

"Well what are we waiting for? Lets jump out that window and go get Gazzy!" Iggy yelled.

"Iggy! It's not as simple as that. Ella and me gotta go home this tomorrow to see our mom. And second, Ella can't fly." Ella's face dropped, "Sorry. It's gonna have to wait. We promised her we wouldn't get in any kind of trouble while we were here. And flying after some bad guys in Death Valley qualifies as trouble."

"Okay," said Fang, "Just one question...we've never been in a _real _house before...could we come with?"

Uhhh...well, our new house was MASSIVE. Lotsa room...guess they could stay...

"Ummm...sure! Why not?"

What else could go wrong?

*****PAGE BREAK*****

As it turns out, my moms new clinic was booming with business. Which likely meant more animals getting hit by cars and strangers finding them. Which worried me. The last thing I want is to walk into her office with a broken wing and a bloody nose.

Since her lovely business is doing so well, she couldn't pick us up from the academy. So we took a cab. Because apparently, flying is outlawed in Arizona. The entire ride was filled with 'Are we there yet's', 'I'm squished's', and Iggy constantly asking everyone to shut up and asking about the sights around him.

But still. One thing that we all shared, was the feeling that time was going by slowly and painfully, squished in a tin can death trap, wishing we were flying instead. And it wouldn't have killed the cab driver to wear a little deoderant either.

That's why when we finally pulled into the driveway, I jumped out of the cab almost before it stopped moving and practically kissed the ground before realized how many peoples shoes stuck with gum and dog poop. All I can say is, thank God for common sense. Fang followed me out the door along with Nudge, Angel, Ella and Iggy.

"Oh, thank GOD!" Nudge yelled as she tumbled to the ground.

"I don't get what the big deal is about you guys being in the cab. It was only an hour drive!" Ella complained.

"Why couldn't we just have flown here like _normal _bird-kids, Max?" said Angel.

"Excuse me! You guys seem to be forgetting the wingless here!" Ella yelled.

"My mom's really strict about me flying around all willy-nilly here. It's one of the reasons we moved here..." I mumbled the last part.

"What'd you say, Max?" asked Fang.

"Uhhh...nothing. Anyways, lets go inside." I dug my key out of my overnight bag. Except I couldn't find it. Just my luck. First the cab ride, then I lose my key. And now my mom was gonna kill me. I'm lucky I found it just then at the bottom of my bag. I mentally breathed a sigh of relief, and swung the door open.

"Wow." Iggy said.

"How would you know, Iggy? You're _blind._" I retorted.

"You dont say?" he said sarcastically. "It echos in here."

"It does? Huh." Guess with my normal bird-kid hearing (but still vulcan) I never noticed.

"Nice, Max." Fang said. I gave him my ugliest death glare.

I clapped my hands together.

"So! Who's up for a flight?" I said, "Ella, you can stay here." she nodded her head. I thought she looked a little down. I decided that I would check out later what was up with her.

A very excited Nudge and Angel raised their hands enthusiastically. (Wow. Big words. I'm becoming educated)

"Let's go!"

*****PAGE BREAK*****

We flew. Warning: this is where my bird-kid poetry comes on. Just beware of the cheesy metaphors and crap about feeling so alive. Although its true that I feel more alive when I fly. I love the breeze. Most teenage girls would be worried about it messing up their hair that took them "a million years" to get "perfect". Not me. My hair was the least of my worries.

It wasn't until about half an hour of silent flying as a group until we noticed several birds flying along with us. Since we weren't that high up, they were able to reach the same altitude we were at.

"MAXIMUM RIDE!" I heard faintly.

Crap.

"Max? I think you're in trouble!" Iggy yelled.

"Yeah? What was your first clue, Ig?" I yelled back, "Come on, you guys." I had to admit. I was pretty dissapointed. I like flying and I've never been flying with all of the guys at once. THey were great flyers. I flew as fast as I could back to my house, ready to confront my mom.

I landed as graceful as I could on my balcony and walked downstairs where my mom was waiting for me with the scent of chocolate chip cookies. If my punishment was being grounded from chocolate chip cookies, I will kill myself with my _own _cookies.

"Max! I thought we discussed this! Where _were _you? And who are _they_?" She was referring to the rest of the guys who came in just after me. Wrong time to meet my mom guys.

"Uhhh...this is Angel, Nudge, Fang and Iggy. Ella and I met them at school this week. And...uhhh..." Excuse. Time to work my magic. "All their parents are out of town and they needed a place to stay for the night." her face softened a little but I could tell shewas still upset about me flying. She smiled slightly at them. I knew I was about to get my butt chewed out. I gave them all a look that said _GET OUT. _No chance, was what their faces said.

"Max. I thought you under stood me the first _million _times I've told you this. But I guess not. I have _told _you time and time again how _dangerous _it is for you to just go flying around whenever you like! The last thing I want is you carried into my office injured or worse-dead. You _remember _what happened last time, why we moved here." With that, she was done and walked into her bed room. But that didn't stop me from grabbing the tray of cookies cooling on the counter and storming into my room. Didn't stop Fang from following me either. I guess the others could tell that I was pretty upset and went to Ella's room instead. Not Fang. The guy was REALLY persistant.

I plopped down on my bed and started stuffing cookies into my mouth like there was no tomorrow. Fang walked in after me and shut the door.

"Okay," he started, "What gives?" I shrugged.

"Nunuvyabidna" I mumbled through the cookies in my mouth. He shrugged. I swallowed the deliciousness that was chocolate chip cookies, and spoke clearer.

"None of your business, Fang."

"I still wanna know."

Should I tell him? I don't want him to know. And then again, I'm not one for sharing feelings like I'm on an itchy couch with dolls in a therapists office. But it would be nice if he would know.

My soft side won. There goes mushy-gushy Max sharing feelings with a box of tissues again.

"Fine." I began. "I got shot." I said.

"Care to elaborate?" What a hypocrite. I sighed heavily and took another bite of a cookie.

"We lived in Colorado. And I wanted to fly. Big deal right? It's not like you guys _dont _want to fly. It's like a part of breathing." Fang sat down next to me on my bed. "My mom was still worried about the School finding me and taking me back. She said it would be her worst nightmare if she lost me or Ella. And I don't blame her. I would feel the same way if I lost her too. But I just ignored what my mom said. I had to fly. And I did. I was flying over these woods at a pretty low alititude. Kinda like we were today and the birds came to fly with us? I was just thinking. About everything. And then I got shot by some hunter in the woods. Twice. Once on my right wing and the other in my stomach. Barely missed my vital organs. Probably thought he had a prize. If only I had seen his face. I swear, my life flashed before my eyes.

"I started falling really fast. I couldn't fly with a giant hole in my wing. All I can say is that its a good thing I swearved out of the way and a couple miles towards the outside of the town where my mom worked. I crash landed in the middle of nowhere and had to walk a couple miles to my moms clinic. By the time I got there, I was almost dead from all the blood loss. I passed out the second I saw my mom. And that was all I remember before waking up in my bed at home after she operated on me. The next day I saw a 'for sale' sign outside our door. So that's it. Now you know." I lifted up my shirt a little so Fang could see my giant scar that stood out among the rest.

I thought I saw a flash of emotion in his black eyes. What was it? Understanding? Sympathy? Love? A mix of all three?

"I'm sorry, Max."

"Why? You didn't shoot me." I said. He gave me a quick grin before we heard a boom that shook the house. Fang wrapped his arms around me and I ducked. We've heard our share of explosions in our lifetime that no one should have to hear.

We were so terrified before we realized that it was only a firework off in the distance.

It made me think of Gazzy.

**I AM SO SORRY. Once again. This in my opinion is a crappy chapter. Mostly because I wrote this in the early hours of the morning trying to get it done. All I can say is that I was running on low energy.**

**BUT, I'll probably have some time to write later this week because sophomores and juniors at my school have state testing this week. YAY FOR NO HOMEWORK!**

**REVIEW!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Well...this is awkward. I'm getting REALLY bad at updating. Now heres my lame excuse: It's the last couple weeks of school for me. Which means testing, testing, banquets, jacket fittings, movies (for fun), studying, spring trips, and last minute crap I have to do. And now it's late at night...in the dark...AGH! A WASP IN MY ROOM! Okay...I killed it. But there really was a wasp for all you people who think I'm a liar. One last thing...follow me on Instagram! endlesswinters and also follow one of my readers and read her fanfics! She's AMAAAAZING. And the way I spelled amazing is good indicator of how awesome she is because I never use that many 'a's in amazing. On Instagram jessicamichellexo and on fanfiction, **_**xoxoeosvugirl**_**. DO IT. RIGHT AFTER YOU FINISH READING THIS.**

**Okay. Enough with the super long authors note. On with the chapter!**

Chapter 12: Searching

"Max...Max...MAX!" someone yelled.

"Agh!" I yelled before tumbling out of my bed and onto the hardwood floors, tangled up in my sheets. A hand covered my mouth and I opened my eyes.

Fang?

Ouch. That fall really hurt my wings.

Fang put a finger to his lips. Same lips that I kissed...woah. Where did that come from? I shoved his hand away.

"What the hell do you want, Fang?" I whisper-shouted.

"Get up, Max. We gotta go."

"Go where?" I said while getting up.

"Go to the academy, remember?" Did I?

"Oh, yeah. Gimme ten minutes. Why'd you have to wake me up so early though?"

He smirked michievously. "Just messing with ya."

I slapped him.

"Regret it?"

"Mmhmm." He said with clenched teeth and a hand cupping his cheek.

"Good."

*****PAGE BREAK*****

Monday. Dreaded Monday. We decided that we needed to go back to the academy on Monday. Why, you may ask? Well, we had some questions for our dear friend, Brigid. Note sarcasm. Fang and I decided that we would take care of this ourselves. No need to bring five bird-kids on her. In other words, we didn't want her to wet herself and the janitors would have to clean it up.

Why did we have to question her? Well, Ella made a very good point. Why would the whitecoats send Gazzy back to the same place? Why not just shake things up a bit? Just double checking.

So here we were, at the crack of dawn, ready to question dear Dr. Amazing. Yeah, right. More like interrogate. Let's just say that I was _not _going to be nice.

Fang and I stood outside the science building, waiting for the doors to open. The one thing we regretted was not bringing Iggy.

7:00. My watch beeped. I looked at Fang and he nodded in approval. We opened the doors and slowly walked into Brigids classroom where she sat at her desk and looked to be grading a bunch of papers. Grading papers is number thirty-two on my list of why I will never become a teacher. Right next to no patience and public speaking.

Dr. Wonderful looked up at her papers in surprise. I thought I saw a flash of nervousness in her eyes. _Good_, I thought. Fang and I walked to her desk.

"Can I help you guys?" she said sweetly. Nice try.

"As it turns out, yes. You can." I said with the slightest edge in my voice. She cocked her head questioningly and I lifted an eyebrow in response.

"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure I can help you." Wow. She _so _sounded like a teacher right now.

Fang and I looked eachother, as if deciding who should drop the bomb on Dwyer. I finally nodded. I put my hands on her desk, leaned forward and looked her dead in the eye with my ugliest glare. She flinched and leaned back.

"We know." I said, my words dripping with poison.

She chuckled nervously. "K-know what?"

"Everything." I drawled out slowly. Her eyes widened with terror. Suddenly, she retaliated with a glare and looked me straight in the eyes.

"I don't know what your talking about."

"Oh, shut _up_, Dwyer."

"Young lady, I am your teacher. And you will treat me with respect or I will send you to Dr. Walkers office immediatley."

"Well, that'll be a little hard to do considering she's _dead._" She froze and fear once again swam in her eyes.

"How do you know that?" She asked flatly.

"I saw it. I saw talking about Gazzy and I saw him shoot Dr. Walker."

"Told ya we knew everything." Fang said, speaking up for the first time.

"We also know that you know what we are."

"And who you work for." Fang said.

Silence. Not an awkward one. Not a comfortable one. This one was filled with fear, horror and the smell of nervousness.

"So, what do you want?" Brigid asked.

"We wanna know where Gazzy is." I told her. No point in letting her figure it out herself. Better if we're just straight and to the point.

"What about the other two?"

I stepped back from her desk and next to Fang.

"What other two?" I said genuinely

"Dylan and JJ?"

"I thought they were dead? The night of the shooting...Dr. Walker said that them and Gazzy were all dead."

Brigid's eyes widened like she had just slipped up, big time. Which, she did.

"Uhh..."

This time, Fang walked straight up to her desk and slammed his hands on the table, startling us both.

"Tell us. Where. They. _Are" _he said in a low, scary voice. I've never been more afraid of Fang more than now. Not that I've every been afraid of him before but you know what I mean. Fangs wings were stretched out just enough so that Brigid could see the tips of them. I did the same. She was almost shaking with fear. I could see sweat drip down her forehead a little.

"W-why should I tell you?" she choked out.

"Because if you don't, we'll force it out of you." Fang whispered.

"You wouldn't..." she said, looking at me.

"We would. You yourself know how strong we are. We don't wanna hurt you, Dwyer. But we will if we have to." I said.

She still didn't say anything. And then, I saw Fang lift a hand, threatening to slap her.

"Okay!" She yelled, "I'll tell you! Just...don't hurt me." Fang stepped away from her desk and she stood up, trying to prove authority. Kinda pointless considering both Fang and I towered over her.

"Gazzy, Dylan and JJ were all sent to Manhattan. There, we have another branch of the School. None of them are dead. They were all kidnapped and sent there. In fact, they're probably there now."

"Do you know exactly where?"

"No. Never been there. And I was never authorized to that kind of information. I just know it's on Manhattan Island. But, listen. You can't tell _anyone_ that I told you this. Especially not Dr. Harvey." She seemed genuinely scared. Why did she work for the School then? She seemed like she didn't want to do this.

Fang turned to leave but I held his arm back, signaling that we needed to stay.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked her softly.

"What do you mean?" She asked

"You seem like a nice enough person. Like you're ashamed of what you're doing. I saw how you reacted when Harvey shot . You looked like you had seen a ghost. Why are you doing this if you don't want to?"

"I have to." She said after a while.

"Why?"

"You would'nt understand."

"Try me."

She paused before telling me.

"When I was a kid, I was smart. I graduated high school at 12 as valedictorian. My family needed help. My mom was sick and I had three siblings who were five, three, and four months. My dad had left and my mom couldn't take care of three babies and myself while she had leukemia. She couldn't even afford treatment. I had to get a job. And since I was a little genius, the School was the only place that offered me a job as an intern to a chemist with a good pay that was just enough to pay for my moms treatment and food for my siblings. But I was twelve. I didn't know what I was getting myself in to.

"When I was sixteen, I figured out that they were experimenting on kids illegaly. And I tried to resign immediately but they wouldn't let me. They were afraid that I would tell the authorities and have them all arrested. And I've been working there ever since with no way out. I've wanted to quit for six years. They won't let me." She sat back down in her chair, her face in her hands. I could tell she was trying to hold back tears. I actually kinda felt bad for her. I knew what the School did and she didn't wanna be a part of it. My instincts told me to leave without lookin back. But once again, my soft side got me.

"Hey," I said, "We're gonna take it down. The whole thing. And you're gonna get out of this. I promise. You're not a bad person."

Fang and I left her room. We were gonna go get the others and fly to New York and take down the School.

The whole damn thing.

**Yeah. Short chapter, I know. But I really wanted to get it up!**

**So, what do you guys think of this story so far? Do you think it's going anywhere? Would you like to see more Fang POV's? If you would, when you review this chapter, please leave me your suggestions on what you think could make this story better!**

**Constructive critisism welcome, but please keep hateful words to yourself. Or in a diary. Or a therapists office.**

**REVIEW!**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Okay. So I have failed to write all summer long. And I hate myself for it. I have had the worst combination of writers block and procrastination at the same time.**

**This is hard for me to do.**

**Sigh.**

**I've been thinking about this for a while (obviously) and have decided to discontinue this fanfic. Now don't yell at me...or type in all caps for that matter...I made a horrible decision by not planning this thing out (whaddya know. My english teacher was right) and decided that it's going nowhere.**

**But wait! There's more! I have good news for you all. I'm going to start a new fanfic along the same lines of Boarding The Flight. Just better written and planned out.**

**I have loved writing for you guys and hope that you won't hate me forever. I also hope that you decide to read my new fanfic, as I am very excited to write it.**

**One more thing.**

**Who out there has read Nevermore? I finished it a couple days ago and would LOVE to know what you guys thought about it.**

**So...farewell my fellow readers and/or writers. But not for long.**

**Try not to miss me too much ;P**

**~endlesswinters~**


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